The  Disarmament  Conference  at 
Washington  Will  Be  a Failure 


Only  by  the  Abolition  of  Neutrality 
Can  War  Be  Quickly  and 
Forever  Prevented 


/ 

/ 

LUIGI  CARNOVALE 

Author  of  “Why  Italy  Entered  Into  the  Great  War,”  Ete. 


CHICAGO 


The  Disarmament  Conference  at 
Washington  Will  Be  a Failure 


Only  by  the  Abolition  of  Neutrality 
Can  War  Be  Quickly  and 
Forever  Prevented 


Hie  vobis  bellum  et  pacem  portamus; 
utrum  placet,  sumite. 


y 

Luigi  Carnovale 

Author  of  “Why  Italy  Entered  Into  the  Great  War,”  Etc. 


Second  Edition 


Italian-American  Publishing  Company 
30  North  Michigan  Avenue 
Chicago,  Illinois 

U.  S.  A. 


CONTENTS 

Page 

The  Disarmament  Conference  at  Washington 
will  be  a failure . . 3 

Preliminary  Notes 5 

“Human  Solidarity” 6 

Complementary  Notes 20 

Extracts  from  Press  Reviews  of  the  book  “Why 
Italy  Entered  Into  the  Great  War,”  from 
which  the  chapter  entitled  “Human  Soli- 
darity,” here  reproduced,  is  taken  ...  23 


COPYRIGHT,  1921 
By 

LUIGI  CARNOVALE 


Price,  25  Cents 


THE  DISARMAMENT  CONFERENCE  AT  WASHINGTON 
WILL  BE  A FAILURE 

Just  as  the  Paris  Conference  was  a failure,  so  the  Disarmament  Con- 
ference at  Washington  will  be  a failure. 

I mean  to  say  that  the  Disarmament  Conference — whether  its  final 
decision  be  in  favor  of  a limitation  of  armaments  or  in  favor  of  complete 
disarmament  of  all  nations — will  not  attain  the  end  (immediate  cessation 
of  wars,  with  general  and  lasting  peace)  for  which  it  was  staged  in  Wash- 
ington with  such  a pomp  of  religious  and  diplomatic  solemnity.  It  will 
not  attain  its  end,  because  the  leit-motif  of  its  academic  discussions  was 
based  exclusively  on  the  false  presumption  that  armaments  are  the  cause — 
and  the  only  cause — -of  wars,  and  that  the  limitation  of  armaments  could 
result  only  in  the  elimination  of  the  cause  of  war  and  the  cessation  of  wars 
with  the  consequent  advent  of  general  and  lasting  peace. 

The  Disarmament  Conference  at  Washington,  based  on  such  a gross 
error  and  allowing  itself  to  be  ruled  by  it,  forgot,  or  feigned  to  forget, 
two  indestructible  historical  elements  which  cannot  and  should  not  be 
forgotten. 

First.  Armaments  never  were  the  cause — and  much  less  the  only 
cause — of  wars.  Nations  armed  to  the  teeth  almost  always  have  lived 
in  peace  with  one  another  and  even  on  good  terms  with  one  another.  Let 
us  note,  for  instance,  the  period  preceding  the  Great  War.  During  that 
time,  armaments  reached  the  most  montrous  proportions,  whether  we  con- 
sider expenditures,  quantity  of  material,  or  power  for  destructiveness,  that 
evil  human  genius  ever  conceived  and  produced;  but  they  were  not  the 
cause  of  the  Great  War;  the  nations  most  powerfully  armed  lived  in  peace 
with  each  other  for  years  and  were  even  on  friendly  terms  with  one  another. 
Armaments — particularly  such  as  those  of  the  period  preceding  the  Great 
War — were  nothing,  to  speak  plainly,  but  purely  industrio-commercial 
expedients  employed  by  governments  in  the  spirit  of  favoritism  for  the  fur- 
ther fattening  of  cruel  and  insatiably  greedy  capitalists  and  speculators. 

Second.  The  limitation  of  armaments  never  eliminated  and  never  will 
eliminate  the  cause  of  wars ; it  never  determined  and  never  will  determine 
the  cessation  of  wars  and  the  consequent  advent  of  general  and  lasting 
peace.  Much  less  could  the  limitation  of  armaments  proposed  and  sup- 
ported by  the  Washington  Conference  do  so,  for  the  simple  reason  that 
the  decision  to  reduce  armaments,  with  the  object  of  immediately  stopping 
wars  and  of  bringing  in  a general  and  lasting  peace,  would  be  nothing  at 
the  end  of  the  story  but  the  official  recognition  and  moral  consecration 
(moral  in  the  governmental  sense,  it  is  understood)  of  the  present  national- 
international  statu-quo.  But  the  present  national-international  statu-quo 
did  not  arise  from  principles  of  justice.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  full  of 
injustice  due  to  the  profound  social  differentiations  which,  in  ' the 
complex  struggle  of  life,  favor  unduly — ^with  material  commodities  and 
joys  of  all  kinds — the  small  minorities  of  the  masterful,  the  selfish, 
the  brutally  unscrupulous;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  they  work  too 
great  injury — through  material  privations  and  sorrows  of  all  sorts — on 
the  great  majorities  of  the  humble,  the  good,  the  well-disposed.  Such 


injustice  is — today  more  than  ever — one  of  the  main  causes,  if  not  indeed 
the  main  cause,  of  wars.  The  Washington  Conference,  therefore,  deciding 
in  favor  of  the  limitation  of  armaments,  would  do  nothing  but  decide, 
be  it  even  involuntarily  (I  want  to  be  optimistic),  in  favor  of  the  perpetu- 
ation of  one  of  the  main  causes — or  of  the  main  cause — of  wars:  an  end 
diametrically  opposed  to  the  one  for  which  the  Conference  was  arranged 
and  to  the  hopes  which  it  has  awakened  throughout  the  world. 

Armaments  never  were  and  never  will  be  the  cause  of  wars. 

The  reduction  of  armaments  never  eliminated  and  never  will  elimi- 
nate the  cause  of  wars;  it  never  determined  and  never  will  determine  the 
cessation  of  wars  and  the  consequent  advent  of  a general  and  lasting  peace. 
It  has  never  been  possible  to  eliminate  the  cause  of  war. 

Furthermore,  it  will  never  be  possible  to  eliminate  the  cause  of  war, 
because  such  elimination  would  necessitate  at  the  same  time  the  pre-exis- 
tence, the  existence  and  the  inalterable  continuity  of  a conditio  sine  qua  non: 
the  spiritual  perfection  of  humankind.  Such  a state  will  never  be  reached 
by  the  race  in  general,  but  only  by  a part  of  it,  and  a very  small  part,  alas ! 
The  experience  of  humanity  through  the  ages  teaches  that  the  past  can 
only  repeat  itself  with  exactness  in  the  future. 

But  if  the  cause  of  wars  can  never  be  eliminated,  owing  to  the  fatal 
existence  of  evil  in  eternal  struggle  with  good,  yet  wars  can  be  prevented. 

This  declaration — considering  the  fact  that  wars  result  from  certain 
determined  causes,  and  that  the  effects  cannot  be  prevented  unless  the 
causes  which  produce  them  are  first  eliminated — may  seem  like  a paradox! 
But  it  is  not  a paradox!  It  is  an  absolute  truth,  and — considering  the 
lofty  end  at  which  it  aims — it  is  one  of  the  most  solemn  of  absolute  truths. 

Wars  can  be  prevented.  I am  demonstrating  this  fact  very  clearly 
in  the  present  Monograph  by  presenting  and  developing  an  entirely  new 
conception : the  abolition  of  neutrality.  According  to  my  conception — 
reduced  in  this  Monograph  to  a concrete  plan  which  may  very  easily  and 
very  quickly  be  put  into  action — nations  should  not  bind  themselves  in  any 
way,  each  of  them  remaining  free  to  arm  or  disarm  at  pleasure.  But  not 
armaments,  nor  the  limitation  of  armaments,  nor  the  complete  disarmament 
of  one  or  more  nations,  or  of  all  the  nations  of  the  world,  could  ever  prevent 
the  end  of  wars  with  the  consequent  advent  of  a general  and  lasting  peace. 
Chicago,  November,  1921. 

CHANCELLOR  McCORMICK,  University  of  Pittsburgh,  Pa.: 

It  is  a strong  appeal  for  the  development  of  a common  sense  of  justice  among 
the  peoples  of  the  world  rather  than  treaties  or  a league  of  nations. 

LLOYD’S,  London,  England: 

Such  a collection  of  words,  though  they  may  be  open  to  question,  speaks  vol- 
umes. . . . Meanwhile,  Mr.  Carnovale  gives  us  something  to  think  about. 

EVENING  POST,  Wellington,  New  Zealand: 

The  theory  is  ingenious  and  well  argued. 

PROF.  AUGUSTO  MURRI,  University  of  Bologna,  Italy: 

I am  entirely  and  absolutely  of  your  opinion. 

CARLO  RIZZETTI,  Senator,  Rome,  Italy: 

This  monograph  is  very  valuable  and  is  written  with  great  humanitarian 
sentiment  and  with  a very  high  civil  aim. 

EUGENIO  SELVAGGI,  Director  of  Museums,  Lecce,  Italy: 

You  have  touched  a very  important  subject  which  deserves  to  be  upheld  and 
given  wide  propaganda. 


PRELIMINARY  NOTES 


During  the  latter  part  of  July,  1917,  the  Italian-American  Publishing 
Company  of  Chicago  (U.  S.  A.)  brought  out  my  bi-lingual  book  (English 
and  Italian),  Why  Italy  Entered  into  the  Great  War.^ 

In  the  Fourth  Part  of  this  book,  and  especially  in  the  chapter  entitled 
Human  Solidarity,  I said,  among  other  things,  that  the  only  means  by  which 
war  can  be  prevented  is  by  abolishing  the  neutrality  of  nations,  that  neu- 
trality which  corresponds  exactly  to  selfishness,  and  even  worse,  in  indi- 
viduals. 

My  book  was  received  with  the  greatest  interest  in  the  United  States 
and  in  other  parts  of  the  world.  But  my  idea  regarding  neutrality  as 
expressed  in  the  chapter  entitled  Human  Solidarity — notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  it  touched  a problem  of  the  highest  social  importance,  which  I 
enlarged  upon  and  treated  with  true  intelletto  d’ amore — was  not  taken  with 
the  consideration  which  I believed  it  merited. 

And  why? 

The  reason  for  this  is  most  easily  explained. 

First — ^The  main  object  of  my  book  was  to  make  Americans  and  others 
see,  at  the  psychological  moment,  the  geographical,  historical,  ethnographical, 
strategic,  political,  juridical,  moral,  and  humanitarian  reasons  which  deter- 
mined the  entrance  of  Italy  into  the  great  war:  the  main  object  as  I sum- 
marized it  in  my  dedication  which  I here  reproduce  in  its  entirety: 

This  labor  of  love,  written  in  exile,  I dedicate  to  the  memory  of  the 
fallen  and  to  the  sorrows  of  the  survivors,  with  thoughts  reaching  out 
toward  the  highest  human  ideals,  to  vindicate  the  honor  of  the  Italian  peo- 
ple in  the  minds  of  those  who  are  in  ignorance  of  the  truth. 

My  expressed  hostility  to  the  neutrality  of  nations  was  simply  one  of 
the  accessory  arguments  used  to  better  defend,  and  to  give  greater  force  to 
my  main  point,  but  it  was  one  of  the  most  important  points  which  I used 
in  the  polemical  part  of  the  book  itself. 

Second — Considering  that  the  only  means  of  preventing  war  is  by  the 
abolition  of  neutrality — according  to  my  belief — it  goes  without  the  saying 
that  any  action  to  abolish  neutrality  must  necessarily  precede  the  breaking 
out  of  war.  WTien  I wrote  my  book  in  Chicago,  where  I have  lived  for 
several  years,  the  great  war  had  already  been  in  progress  for  some  time.^ 
And  when  it  was  published,  in  1917,  the  war  had  already  raged  for  three 
years. 

As  soon  as  the  war  was  over,  in  the  first  part  of  November,  1918,  the 
attention  of  the  world  was  quickly  drawn  to,  and  absorbed  by,  the  plan  of 
the  League  of  Nations  which  was  officially  presented,  discussed  and 
approved  by  the  allied  governments  at  the  Paris  Conference. 

I republish  herewith  my  chapter  entitled  Human  Solidarity,  confident 
that  this  time  it  will  meet  with  better  fortune ; naturally  not  for  my  own 


^“Why  Italy  Entered  into  the  Great  War,”  by  Luigi  Carnovale,  673  pages  large  8vo,  with 
Tavola  Clesiana  and  map  of  Italia  Irredenta.  Italian-American  Publishing  Company,  Chi- 
cago, 1917. 

^The  great  war  broke  out,  July  28,  1914.  Italy  entered  it  on  May  23,  191S.  My  book 
was  written  in  the  latter  part  of  1915  and  during  1916. 


5 


sake,  but  for  the  high  humanitarian  idea — more  vibrant  today  than  ever 
before — of  which  the  chapter  itself  treats  and  which  it  defends. 

The  causes  which  provoked  the  great  war  exist  today;  and  they  can 
never  be  eliminated,  because  they  spring  from  the  irrepressible  passions 
which  unfortunately  are  innate  to  restless  human  nature. 

War,  however,  can  be  prevented.  But  certainly  not  by  the  ineffective 
means  devised  and  used  during  the  past  centuries  and  even  continued  to  the 
present  time;  and  just  as  certainly  not  by  means  of  the  League  of  Nations 
which,  if  it  continues,  will  do  nothing  to  allay  the  rivalries  and  hatreds 
between  peoples,  but  instead  will  foment  them  more  and  more. 

Wars  can  be  prevented,  notwithstanding  the  natural  and  perpetual 
causes  which  tend  to  produce  them,  only  if  conscientious  men,  who  fortu- 
nately abound  everywhere,  will  receive  with  sympathetic  interest  my  idea 
against  neutrality;  only  if  individuals  and  nations,  who  by  the  willingness, 
energy  and  perseverance  of  such  conscientious  men,  will  consider  the  aboli- 
tion of  neutrality  the  most  sacred  and  urgent  duty  to  be  accomplished,  the 
most  sublime  ideal  to  be  reached  hy  civilization. 


“HUMAN  SOLIDARITY.”^ 

“The  Italian  people,  on  account  of  one  of  the  natural  laws  which  psy- 
chologically distinguish  the  human  races  from  one  another,  have  implanted 
in  them  two  sentiments : a sentiment  of  sympathy  for  the  weak,  and  a senti- 
ment of  indignation  against  the  strong  who  abuse  and  tyrannize  over  the 
v^ak.  These  sentiments  form,  in  the  peculiar  harmony  of  their  spiritual 
essence  and  of  their  practical  workings  out,  the  granite-like  foundation  of 
their  social  life. 

“Glance  for  a moment  at  the  history  of  Italy  from  the  time  of  the 
famous  republic  of  Magna  Grecia,  which  has  grown  and  blossomed  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  peninsula  up  to  the  present  time,  and  one  cannot  fail 
to  see  that  the  Italian  people  were  always  moved  by  the  condition  of  the 
weaker.  They  embraced  their  cause  in  fact,  and  not  alone  in  words,  for 
magnanimous  and  not  for  selfish  and  material  reasons,  especially  when  their 
cause  represented  the  trampling  upon  or  simply  the  menacing  of  their 
national  liberties  by  presuming  tyrants. 

“And  not  only  in  battles  of  a collective  public  nature,  but  also  in  the 
altercations  of  a private  and  personal  character,  the  Italian  people  have  put 
in  evidence — or  better,  into  action — their  innate  sentiments  of  sympathy  for 
the  weaker  and  of  indignation  against  the  stronger  (strong  naturally,  in  the 
brutally  physical  sense  of  the  word,  be  it  understood).  In  America,  for 
example  (particularly  in  the  city  where  for  many  years  I have  lived),  I 
have  frequently  witnessed  disputes  between  two  persons,  usually  for  some 
trivial  reason,  which  quickly  ended  by  their  coming  to  blows.  No  one 
among  the  bystanders  ever  moves  to  try  to  pacify  the  two  disputants  or 
even  to  prevent  the  weaker  from  receiving  the  worst  of  it.  I have  always 
seen  the  stronger  throw  the  weaker  to  the  ground  undisturbed  by  anyone; 
stamp  on  his  breast,  his  jaws,  his  nose,  his  eyes,  transforming  his  countenance 
into  a horrible  bloody  mass,  leaving  him  half  dead.  The  bystanders,  even 
the  acquaintances,  friends,  or  relatives  of  the  weaker,  look  on  with  indiffer- 


From  the  book  “Why  Italy  Entered  into  the  Great  War”  by  Luigi  Carnovale. 


6 


ence  (as  if  it  were  a moving  picture)  or  with  vile  voluptuousness  at  the 
doglike  fight,  seeming  to  feel  an  admiration  for  the  stronger. 

“In  Italy,  particularly  in  my  native  Calabria,  which  with  good  reason 
is  called  strong  and  generous,  nothing  of  this  kind  could  occur.  There  the 
bystanders,  even  though  they  might  be  strangers,  from  the  first  word  of 
altercation  interpose  themselves  between  the  disputants.  And  if  they  are 
unable  to  calm  them  with  reason  and  re-establish  peace  between  them  and 
thus  prevent  the  bestial  fight,  they  immediately  sympathize  with  the  weaker; 
they  openly  and  resolutely  take  his  part;  they  will  not  permit  that  a hair  of 
his  head  shall  be  touched ; they  prefer  even  at  the  risk  of  death  to  themselves 
to  receive  the  blows  from  the  stronger,  on  whose  head  will  descend,  sooner 
or  later,  a general  execration. 

“Now  this  people,  so  sensitive,  so  just,  so  humane,  having  at  their 
command  a sufficiently  formidable  army  and  navy,  could  not  remain  inert 
before  the  violence  committed  by  the  strong  and  tyrannical  Austria  against 
little  Serbia.  They  could  not  remain  inert  before  the  incomparable  crime 
committed  by  the  strong  and  tyrannical  Germany  against  little  Belgium. 
They  could  not  remain  inert  before  a scowling  and  brutal  Teutonic  mili- 
tarism which  menaced  with  growing  and  strengthening  gravity  that  repub- 
lican France  which  had  poured  out  rivers  of  her  blood  for  the  unity  and 
independence  of  her  Latin  sister  and  for  the  triumph  of  democratic  prin- 
ciples in  all  of  Europe.  They  could  not  remain  inert  before  a scowling  and 
brutal  Teutonic  militarism  which  menaced  with  growing  and  strengthening 
gravity  that  England  which  even  in  a time  of  general  reaction  gave  hospi- 
tality with  generous  and  affectionate  liberality  to  the  great  exiles,  to  all  the 
great  Italian  political  refugees  from  Giordano  Bruno  to  Ugo  Foscolo,  from 
Mazzini  to  Malatesta;  to  that  England  which,  with  its  battleship  Intrepid 
and  Argus,  protected  and  facilitated  in  the  spring  of  i860  the  memorable 
landing  of  The  Thousand  at  Marsala  (a  disembarkation  which  decided  the 
national  unity  of  Italy)  ; that  England  which  received  Garibaldi  like  a 
god  when  the  Hero  in  April,  1864,  went  as  a representative  of  the  people 
of  the  new  Italy  to  visit  London.  They  could  not  remain  inert  before  the 
scowling  and  brutal  Teutonic  militarism  which  menaced  with  growing  and 
strengthening  gravity  that  Russia  whose  great  men  such  as  Turghenieff, 
Tchernichewsky,  Tolstoy,  Gogol,  and  Gorky  always  admired  and  glorified 
Italy;  that  Russia  which  was  the  first  to  send  her  sailors  t8  Calabria  and 
Sicily  to  succor  the  people  struck  hy  the  terrible  earthquake  of  1908. 

“If  the  Italian  people  had  remained  Inert,  they  would  have  negated 
their  incomparable  moral  personality  which  is  composed  of  altruism  and 
gratitude ; they  would  have  obscured  their  most  radiant  traditions  of  thought 
and  action ; they  would  have  done  that  which  is  worse : at  the  moment  when 
death  was  preparing  to  shape  the  new  life  of  the  world  on  the  battlefields 
of  old  Europe,  they  would  have  betrayed  the  cause  of  humanity,  which  must 
stand  above  every  personal  and  national  interest,  as  the  physical  life  of  the 
universe  stands  perennially  above  the  single  parts  of  which  it  is  composed. 

“It  is  useless  to  deny  it.  The  word,  opposed  to  the  fact,  has  never 
been  of  value.  And  it  never  will  be  so  long  as  in  the  depths  of  certain 
human  souls  there  dwell,  as  the  morchia  at  the  botton  of  jars  of  olive  oil, 
as  feccia  in  the  bottom  of  wine  casks,  as  lime  in  the  bottom  of  wells,  those 
turbid  and  wficked  instincts  which  are  in  open  antithesis  to  the  sentiments  of 
purity,  compassion  and  love  upon  which  every  civilization  should  lean  and 
from  which  it  should  evolve. 


7 


“The  plea  has  always  been  made,  and  in  every  tone,  to  the  potentates 
of  Europe,  not  to  strengthen  militarism;  but  they  have  strengthened  it — 
and  alas,  how  well  ! 

“Tlie  potentates  of  Europe  have  been  counseled  in  every  manner  not 
to  provoke  war;  but  they  have  provoked  it,  and  how  well  ! 

“Must  one  ignore  the  fact  in  this,  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury, that  the  imperial  soldiery,  atavistically  imitating  the  hordes  of  Alaric 
and  Attila,  invade  the  territories  of  small  and  independent  nations,  mas- 
sacre men,  outrage  women,  mutilate  children,  seize  the  fruits  of  so  much 
labor,  bum  homes,  raze  entire  cities  to  the  ground;  in  such  a manner  for 
example,  as  the  Turks  have  been  allowed  to  treat  the  Armenians  for  years 
and  years? 

“If  these  things  must  be  forgotten,  then  farewell  to  human  solidarity. 

“After  so  many  promises,  after  so  much  enthusiasm,  it  could  not  be 
other  (except  for  the  weak  who  have  the  simplicity  to  believe  and  expect  it) 
than  an  archaic,  empty  and  scoffing  phrase,  resurrecting  once  again  the 
ignoble  farce  of  pulpiteers  (both  priests  and  laity)  who  know  only  how  to 
preach  well  and  practice  badly.  The  pulpiteers  who,  when  put  to  the  test, 
know  only  how  to  put  in  practice  their  selfish  doctrine  which  is  encased 
in  the  parabolic  formula,  ‘Lontana  da  me,  e dove  va  va."'^ 

“The  great  crowned  heads  would  not  have  wished  anything  better! 

“Fortunately  the  Italian  people,  with  their  awakened  intelligence, 
understood  that  words  could  not  supplant  the  facts.  And  they  threw  them- 
selves into  the  war  (they,  the  Italian  people,  with  their  childlike  hearts) 
to  meet  facts  with  facts,  action  with  action,  physical  force  with  physical 
force  (a  species  of  similia  similibus  curantur) , to  teach  the  mob  of  querulous 
doctrinaires  that  the  trampled  rights  of  the  weak  must  be  defended,  not  with 
words,  but  at  the  sacrifice  of  life  itself;  that  the  innocent  victims  of  bar- 
barism (militaristic  and  non-militaristic)  must  be  avenged,  not  with  words, 
but  at  the  sacrifice  of  life  itself;  that  the  true  brotherhood  of  nations,  the 
ideal  to  which  the  human  soul  incessantly  aspires  because  of  an  immutable 
natural  law,  must  be  affirmed,  be  exalted,  be  perpetuated,  not  with  words 
but  at  the  sacrifice  of  life  itself. 

“The  Italian  people  know  well  that  after  the  great  war  they  will  have 
no  other  reward  than  that  of  starvation,  scorn  and  oblivion  worse  than 
before.  But  of  what  importance  is  this?  With  spirits  eminently  poetic 
and  philosophic  at  the  same  time,  inured  to  every  privation,  to  every  ingrati- 
tude, to  every  sorrow,  they  will  be  convinced  of  having  opened  the  way, 
with  their  purest  blood — given  the  present  order  of  things,  the  only  way — 
that  could  lead  to  the  longed-for  universal  peace.  And  such  knowledge  will 
be  sufficient  to  render  them  content,  happy,  and  blessed. 

“I  have  said,  ‘given  the  present  order  of  things.’  I have  said,  ‘the  only 
way.’  And  I will  explain. 

“The  life  of  a nation,  nowadays,  notwithstanding  its  complexities, 
depends  in  great  part  on  essentially  industrial  bases  constructed  by  the  peo- 
ple, not  for  their  own  advantage,  but  for  the  advantage  of  a big-bellied  and 
cruel  minority  called  plutocracy,  which  has  nothing  else  in  common  with 
the  people  except  their  simple  Darwinian  origin. 

“Such  national  industrialism,  in  order  to  maintain  itself  and  prosper 
— always  to  the  benefit  of  the  big-bellied  and  cruel  minority  called  plu- 


“^‘It  may  go  where  it  will  if  it  does  not  touch  me.’ 


8 


tocracy — must  necessarily  push  itself  into  commercial  competition  against 
the  industrialism  of  another  nation,  or  other  nations,  and  vice  versa.  But 
commercial  competition,  in  order  to  give  financial  results  proportionate  to 
the  insatiable  greed  of  the  nationalist  plutocracy,,  must  be  incessantly  and 
strenuously  favored  and  defended  by  the  State. 

“Does  a State  government  of  the  present  day  lend  itself  to  a partisan- 
ship so  bold  and  iniquitous? 

“Certainly  it  does! 

“And  why  shouldn’t  it,  if  the  State  government  of  today,  be  it  covered 
by  a mask  surmounted  by  a royal  crown,  or  be  it  a mask  surmounted  by  a 
republican  cap,  is  none  other  than  a being  voluntarily  placed  at  the  service 
of  the  big-bellied  and  cruel  minority  called  plutocracy? 

“Now  a Government  thus  made,  frankly,  could  not  without  injury  to 
itself  put  in  action  the  military  forces,  which  are  the  positive  forces  of  the 
State,  except  for  the  protection  of  its  master;  or  more  correctly  speaking, 
for  the  protection  of  its  mistress  (plutocracy  in  the  Italian  language  is  in 
the  feminine  gender).  The  war  which  today  rages  in  Europe  is  one  pro- 
voked for  no  other  reason  than  that  of  jealousy  of  the  German  plutocracy 
for  the  English  commercial  supremacy  in  the  world. ^ 

“In  causes  of  a purely  humanitarian  character — that  is,  where  the 
intellectual,  moral  and  economic  elevation,  justice,  liberty  and  the  happi- 
ness of  the  people  are  involved — the  government  of  today  never  puts  into 
action  the  military  forces  of  the  State.  And  this  is  natural ; for  if  the  mili- 
tary forces  were  to  make  the  humanitarian  causes  triumph,  only  one  effect 
could  follow:  the  end  of  plutocracy;  the  end,  that  is,  of  inequality,  of  all 
injustice,  of  all  social  tyrannies:  an  effect,  as  one  can  see,  completely 
opposed  to  that  for  which  the  military  forces  of  a nation  exist  today.  In 
causes  of  a purely  humanitarian  character,  the  Government  of  today  em- 
ploys only  the  negative  force  of  the  State:  diplomacy,  which  would  have 
no  other  result  than  that  of  chattering;  stirring  up  confusion;  tangling  the 
skeins  of  yarn  as  much  as  possible ; throwing  dust  in  the  eyes  of  the  masses ; 
anaesthetizing  the  nation;  reducing  every  heart  throb  of  collective  life  to 
status  quo;  to  this  most  convenient  Latin  ellipsis,  (convenient  for  the  strong, 
but  wickedly  disastrous  for  the  weak) , which  is  fossilized  and  is  fossilizing. 

“Must  the  nations  continue  to  face  a situation  so  evident,  so  tangible 
in  chronic  evil,  opposing  the  murderous  facts  of  the  deaf  and  ferocious  pluto- 
crats with  only  the  usual  innocuous  words? 

“If  so,  the  people  could  not  do  other  than  rivet  to  themselves  the  chains 
of  servitude;  they  could  not  do  other  than  perpetuate  war,  always  to  the 
advantage  of  the  more  astute,  who  idly  reap  all  of  the  benefits,  and  to  the 
damage  of  the  credulous,  who  labor  and  vvho  suffer. 

“So  long  as  nationalistic  industrialisms  with  their  respective  commer- 
cial competitions  exist;  so  long  as  plutocracies  exist  which  have  in  their 
hands  to  dispose  of  at  their  pleasure  all  of  the  positive  forces  of  the  nations 
(from  financial  to  military),  duly  legalized  by  governments  and  blessed  by 
religions,  which  are  also,  by  the  grace  of  God,  at  the  service  of  the  strong; 
so  long  as  plutocracies  provoke  war  because  of  a thirst  for  riches  and  domin- 
ion, originated  by  innate  hardness  of  heart;  so  long  as  all  this  exists,  the 
inertia  of  the  people,  armed  only  by  old  lachrymose  and  even  scornful 
rhetoric,  is  not  other,  to  my  mind,  than  an  incongruity,  anachronism,  folly. 


“iThe  other  causes  which  determined  the  great  war  (pan-Slavism,  French  revenge, 
Italian  Irredentism,  etc.)  were  all  of  secondary  importance.” 


9 


suicide.  It  is  the  fragile  glass  that  would  resist  the  powerful  blow  of  the 
sledge  hammer,  the  soap  bubble  that  would  resist  the  rock. 

“The  way  must  be  changed.  We  are  in  a century  in  which  one  must 
reasonably  believe  in  only  a single  truth:  that  which  teaches — or  better,  is 
demonstrated  by — positive  science.  One  must  therefore  live  a little  less  in 
the  metaphysical  world  of  dreams,  and  a little  more  in  the  physical  world 
of  reality. 

“The  people  must  have  facts.  They  must,  without  distinctions,  cre- 
ate among  themselves  a solid  spiritual  alliance  (prodrome  of  their  universal 
political  union)  : and  establish  as  a fundamental  principle  of  justice,  invio- 
late and  invariable,  that  when  a controversy  between  two  nations  degener- 
ates into  war,  each  of  the  peoples  not  involved  in  the  controversy  so  degen- 
erated must  a priori  impose  on  their  own  government  an  armed  intervention 
in  favor  of  the  weaker  nation  which  one  finds  on  the  side  of  reason.  On  the 
side  of  reason,  not  according  to  the  porcine  point  of  view  of  the  big-bellied, 
cruel  minority  called  plutocracy;  not  according  to  verbose  partisan  laws 
voted  by  parliaments  and  sanctioned  by  kings,  emperors  or  presidents  of 
republics ; not  according  to  the  fantastic  and  complacent  sentences  flung  by 
petticoated  comedians  of  the  different  arbitrary  tribunals  of  the  Hague. 
But  on  the  side  of  reason  according  to  the  judgment  that  springs  spon- 
taneously, free  from  preconceived  ideas  and  passions ; from  free  intellingence, 
from  the  candid  conscience  of  the  people  themselves:  above  all,  according 
to  the  natural  guide  of  life  which  makes  the  cause  of  the  weak  always 
beautiful,  sacred,  and  worthy  of  victory. 

“Only  in  such  a manner  for  the  present  can  one  curb  the  aggressive 
mania  of  the  stronger.  Only  in  such  a manner  can  wars  be  prevented. 

“In  fact,  if  the  Government  of  Francis  Joseph,  for  example,  could 
have  known  in  anticipation  that  the  peoples  of  Europe,  even  of  the  whole 
world,  would  rise  up  and  intervene  promptly  with  all  of  the  positive  forces 
of  their  nations  in  defense  of  little  Serbia,  the  Government  of  Francis 
Joseph,  however  powerful  and  arrogant,  however  much  upheld  by  that  mili- 
tary colossus,  the  German  Empire,  would  never  have  dared  to  dictate  to 
the  little  Balkan  nation  who  was  defending  her  own  independence.  It 
would  not  have  had  the  Insane  temerity  to  send  to  it  in  July,  1914,  that 
ultimatum  which  unchained  the  most  terrible  inferno  in  the  world’s  history. 

“But  the  spiritual  alliance  of  the  people  (prodrome  of  a universal 
political  union)  can  never  be  effected  if  from  the  first  the  two  most  ad- 
vanced groups  of  doctrinaires,  which  have  an  extraordinary  moral  ascend- 
ancy over  the  people,  do  not  know  how  to  adapt  effectively  their  pacifist 
theories — freed  from  every  dogmatic  sophism — to  the  events  which  day  by 
day  unfold  themselves. 

“The  first  group:  those  who  limit  human  progress  to  the  struggle 
between  classes  (the  economic  problem)  are  in  favor  of  war  only  in  the 
case  where  it  is  necessary  to  defend  from  an  invading  foe  the  country  in 
which  all  the  material  interests  of  the  national  proletariat  are  concentrated. 
These  are  the  Conditional  Neutrals. 

“The  second  group : those  who  await  the  destruction  of  every  political, 
judicial,  military,  economic  and  religious  authority  by  revolution  and  are 
opposed  to  all  wars,  because  wars  are  made  only  for  the  round-bellies  of 
their  masters.  These  are  Absolute  Neutrals. 

“The  members  of  these  groups  are  doubtless  animated  by  right  motives. 
They  aim  at  the  high  purpose  at  which  every  open  and  active  mind  and 


sensitive  heart  aims:  the  emancipation  of  all  oppressed  beings.  I therefore 
wish  to  reason  calmly  with  them.^ 

“And  I say  to  the  Conditional  Neutrals: 

“The  theory  of  war  only  for  national  defense,  which  you  sustain,  is  in 
open  contradiction  to  the  doctrines  which  you  say  that  you  profess, — doc- 
trines which  in  their  idealistic  contents  are  conspicuously  and  rigorously 
international  and  do  not  admit  of  restrictions  of  any  sort.  The  cry,  ‘Work- 
men of  every  nation,  unite !’  in  which  are  synthesized  those  doctrines  which 
cannot  be  interpreted  exclusively  in  the  economic  sense  as  you  seem  to 
believe,  must  be  interpreted  logically  in  a much  wider  sense,  at  least  if  one 
would  not  wish  to  belittle  the  merit  of  him  who  launched  it ; must  be  inter- 
preted in  a sense  embracing  every  social  problem  from  which  the  economic 
problem  cannot  be  eliminated  without  disturbing  the  harmony  or  absolutely 
breaking  the  compages  of  things  which  regulate  and  perpetuate  human 
progress. 

“Because  the  social  question  is  many-sided.  And  the  economic  prob- 
lem is  none  other  than  a part  of  the  social  question,  one  face  of  the  poly- 
hedron each  part  of  which  is  intimately  connected  with  the  others ; and  the 
economic  problem  is  even  dependent  upon  the  others  and  it  comes  from  one 
cause : ignorance.  This  was  clearly  demonstrated  three  centuries  ago,  dur- 
ing the  most  horrible  torture  of  the  lay  and  ecclesiastic  inquisition,  by  that 
most  daring  father  of  universal  communism,  my  encyclopaedic  fellow- 
countryman,  Tommaso  Campanella. 

“According  to  the  belief  of  this  giant  precursor  of  the  civil  redemption 
of  humanity — a belief  which  has  been  fully  confirmed  by  the  facts  of  the 
social  situation,  our  maladjustments  come  from  the  following  causes: 

“First — Ignorance,  which,  preventing  the  knowledge  of  true  vices  and 
of  true  virtues,  generates  and  nourishes  evil,  ‘under  which  the  world  chafes 
and  weeps.’ 

Second — Blind  Self-love;  that  is.  Egotism,  worthy  son  of  Ignorance. 

“Third — Tyranny  (false  power).  Sophism  (false  science).  Hypocrisy 
(false  love),  the  three  extreme  evils  (the  triple  lies)  which  have  ‘root  and 
fomentation’  in  blind  self-love. 

“Fourth — Famine;  that  is,  misery  (the  economic  problem),  wars, 
pestilence,  envy,  deceit,  injustice,  luxury,  sloth,  disdain,  all  derived  from  the 
three  extreme  evils  to  which  they  are  hierarchically  subject. 

“Therefore,  the  economic  problem  cannot  be  detached  from  the  others ; 
cannot  be  settled  independently  of  the  others.  If  it  could  thus  be  resolved, 
its  isolated  solution  could  not  attain  its  object  (the  moral  betterment  of  the 
world)  toward  which  the  whole  question  tends.  And  the  proof  of  this,  my 
assertion,  which  at  first  seems  a paradox,  comes  to  us  by  means  of  this  same 
plutocracy  in  an  unanswerable  manner. 

“It  is  a fact,  and  I trust  that  on  this  point  there  will  be  no  divergence 
of  opinion,  that  plutocracy  is  composed  of  flesh  and  bone,  is  of  exactly  the 
same  species  as  the  proletariat. 

“The  plutocrats  have  splendidly  solved  the  economic  problem  to  their 
own  advantage.  I trust  that  on  this  point  there  may  be  no  difference  of 
opinion. 

do  not  occupy  myself  with  the  other  groups  of  pacifists,  because  they — being  an 
emanation  more  or  less  direct  from  the  plutocracy — cannot  be  logical. 

“ ‘Let  us  not  speak  of  them,  but  look  and  pass’.” 

(Dante,  Inferno,  Canto  III.) 


II 


“But  has  the  solution  of  the  problem  which  has  brought  all  of  the 
luxuries,  all  of  the  sensual  pleasures  of  life  within  the  reach  of  the  pluto- 
crats,— has  it  brought  to  them  a proportionate  betterment? 

“Absolutely  it  has  not. 

“The  solution  of  the  economic  problem  (luxuries  and  sensual  pleasures 
ad  infinitum)  has  instead  brought  to  the  plutocrats  a fearful  moral  retro- 
gression visible  even  to  the  blind.  It  has  taught  that  this  solution,  when 
unaccompanied  by  the  solution  of  the  other  social  problems,  is  not  and  never 
can_be  the  panacea  which  is  preached  by  superficial  and  short-sighted  the- 
orists. It  has  demonstrated  once  more,  today  more  than  ever,  the  posi- 
tive value  of  the  truth  which  was  proclaimed  in  the  difficult  and  dark  ages 
by  that  great  apostle  from  Stilo,  Calabria,  who  was,  with  Vinci,  Pom- 
ponazzi,  Telesio,  Bruno,  and  Galileo,  one  of  the  creative  geniuses  of  modern 
positivism;  of  that  positivism  which  for  the  voluble  authority  of  the  word 
substituted  the  solid  authority  of  facts;  of  that  positivism  culminating  in 
our  day  in  the  monumental  works  of  that  other  pure  Italian  who  is  the 
living  pride  and  glory  of  Italy:  Professor  Roberto  Ardigo. 

“And  if  the  cry  which  synthesizes  the  doctrine  professed  by  you.  Condi- 
tional Neutrals,  has  a content  conspicuously  and  rigorously  international,  I 
do  not  understand  with  what  conscience,  or  more,  with  what  heart,  you  can 
restrict  the  war  to  national  defense  only,  permitting  the  stronger  nation, 
which  is  found  on  the  side  of  wrong,  to  assault  and  devour  at  its  pleasure 
the  weaker  nations  which  are  found  on  the  side  of  right. 

“Such  a restrictive  principle  (war  only  for  national  defense)  is  an 
unheard  of  and  selfish  cruelty.  It  is  the  most  repugnant  ironic  interpreta- 
tion of  internationalism,  or  what  calls  itself  internationalism.  It  is  the 
absolute  negation  of  every  human  and  animal  solidarity.  I say  animal, 
because  even  the  animals  feel  and  practice  among  themselves  that  which 
we  humans  call  moral  solidarity  toward  the  weak.  The  example  of 
the  dog  suffices  to  illustrate  this.  He  continually  risks  his  own  life  to 
defend  the  weak  and  innocent  sheep  from  the  strong,  arrogant  and  savage 
wolf. 

“And  your  own  nation,  my  dear  Conditional  Neutrals,  would  not  be 
long  in  falling  a victim  to  the  plutocratic  perfidy  and  cupidity  of  some 
stronger  nation ; a victim  of  your  own  error. 

“Because  it  is  not  enough  to  wish  to  defend.  One  must  be  able  to 
defend.  Serbia  also  wished  to  defend  herself  against  Austria.  Belgium 
wished  to  defend  herself  against  Germany.  But  each  one,  being  too  small, 
and  in  consequence  too  feeble  compared  with  its  aggressors,  was  constrained 
to  succumb  (for  the  time  being),  nothwithstanding  the  fact  that  it  based  its 
defense  on  its  rights  of  independence  and  on  points  of  honor  more  than 
sacred. 

“And  if  the  social  question  embraces  many  other  problems  besides  that 
of  the  economic,  and  if  the  emancipation  of  the  oppressed  depends  on  the 
parallel  solution  of  all  of  these  problems  and  not  on  the  solution  of  only 
one  of  them,  I do  not  understand  why  you,  followers  of  the  cry  which  syn- 
thesizes the  social  question  in  all  of  its  idealistic  entirety,  must  persist  only 
in  the  solution  of  the  economic  problem.  I do  not  understand  how  you  can 
detach  yourselves  from  or  interest  yourselves  so  little  in  the  other  problems 
when  it  is  demonstrated  that  only  the  parallel  solution  of  all,  not  the  isolated 
solution  of  one,  can  eliminate  evils  ‘under  which  the  world  trembles  and 
weeps’ ; the  evils  which  retard  the  longed-for  emancipation. 


12 


“One  knows  that  nowadays  wars  are  not  waged  to  revenge  the 
ofEended  honor  of  Menelaus — who  may  be  more  or  less  crowned — as,  for 
example,  was  the  mythological  war  of  Greece  made  against  Troy  of 
Homeric  memory. 

“Wars  nowadays,  as  has  been  hinted  before  and  as  you  yourselves.  Con- 
ditional Neutrals,  recognize,  are  more  for  ends  essentially  economic;  for 
ends  such  as  the  doctrines  which  you  are  said  to  profess  tend  toward,  even 
when  interpreted  in  their  highest  sense. 

“And  if  they  are  made  for  ends  essentially  economic,  I do  not  see  the 
reason  for  which  you,  followers  of  internationalism  reduced  even  to  its  low- 
est terms,  that  is,  to  strictly  economic  terms,  should  abstain  from  inter- 
vention. 

“Because  such  ends,  you  object,  do  not  touch  the  economic  interests 
of  our  national  proletariat. 

“That  the  economic  interests  of  a neutral  nation  are  endangered — 
given  the  present  industrial  and  commercial  organization  of  the  world — 
by  a war  between  two  or  more  nations,  and  especially  by  a war  of  such 
gigantic  proportions  as  that  which  has  just  ceased  to  rage  in  old  Europe 
and  by  reflection  has  affected  the  whole  world,  is  a self-evident  truth  to 
every  intelligence. 

“But  even  if — to  take  it  as  an  hypothesis — the  economic  interests  of 
the  neutral  national  proletariat  were  not  endangered  by  the  war  of  others, 
}'ou  Conditional  Neutrals  should  consider  it  equally  your  duty  to  interfere 
to  defend  the  economic  interests  of  the  proletariat  of  the  weaker  nation 
which  is  assaulted  by  the  plutocratically  stronger,  and  this  because  of  the 
factive  elements  and  not  the  chatterings  of  the  doctrines  which  you  say 
that  you  profess. 

“The  sentimental  scruples  which  will  not  permit  you  to  intervene  in 
war  because  you  would  be  constrained  to  kill  your  brothers,  must  be  elimi- 
nated. 

“In  case  of  national  defense  would  not  the  invaders  be  your  brothers 
whom  you  would  be  obliged  to  kill  ? 

“Are  not  the  scabs  also  your  brothers,  and  brothers  of  your  own  nation 
whom  you  fight  and  kill  during  the  strikes  ? 

“And  these  strikes  themselves  which  you  are  continually  making  as  de- 
fensive means  in  the  class  struggle,  are  they  not  substantially  wars  between 
brothers  who  are  exploited,  and  those  who  are  not;  wars  of  hate  between 
unionist  and  non-unionist  brothers? 

“You  unionist  workmen  strike,  assault,  and  kill  without  mercy  your 
non-unionist  brothers.  And  why?  To  defend  yourselves  against  their 
economic  competition.  But  these  non-unionists  rarely  take  your  places  in 
your  work  for  malignant  reasons.  In  the  majority  of  cases  they  are  none 
other  (and  I know  this  only  too  well)  than  sons,  brothers,  husbands,  and 
fathers  reduced  to  extreme  misery.  They,  not  knowing  to  what  saint  to 
pray  in  their  extremity  or  where  to  turn  their  heads,  face  your  insults  with 
desperation  in  their  souls  and  run  to  the  conquest  of  a mouthful  of  bread 
or  a bit  of  coal  which  may  save  those  dependent  upon  them  from  starvation. 

“You  do  not  wish  to  face  these  facts.  You  do  not  wish  to  know  the 
reasons,  which  are  beyond  their  control,  which  force  your  unfortunate 
brothers  to  enter  into  competition  against  you.  You  know  only  that  they 
injure  your  cause,  and  for  this  you  fight  to  destroy  them. 

“And  the  gunmen,  so-called  in  America  (I  allude  to  the  savage  private 


13 


policemen  charged  to  ‘maintain  order’  during  the  strikes)  are  they  not  also 
your  brothers?  Why  then  do  you  fight  and  destroy  them? 

“Because  they  do  not  hesitate  to  shoot  you.  Because  they  do  not  hesi- 
tate to  massacre  your  women  and  children. 

“I  compare  the  scabs  to  the  conscript  soldiers.  I compare  the  gunmen 
to  the  professional  soldier.  The  unwilling  action  of  the  one  (scab  and  con- 
script) is  inspired  as  is  the  voluntary  action  of  the  other  (gunman  and 
professional  soldier)  by  plutocracy  and  is  stirred  up  by  plutocracy  and 
eventuates  also  to  the  advantage  of  plutocracy. 

“Now  if  you  unionist  workmen  representing  internationalism  synthe- 
sized in  the  cry,  ‘Workmen  of  all  countries,  unite!’ — if  you  fight  to  destroy 
scabs  and  gunmen  during  strikes,  why  should  you  not  fight  to  kill  soldiers 
in  time  of  war?  The  scabs  and  gunmen,  I repeat,  are  your  brothers  as  also 
are  the  soldiers.  The  sins  which  the  soldiers  conunit  have  the  same  root  of 
evil  as  those  of  the  scabs  and  gunmen ; they  have  only  one  root : plutocracy. 
This  is  the  new  and  real  Pandora’s  box. 

“And  if,  with  the  struggle  of  classes  culminating  in  the  murder  of 
scabs  and  gunmen  during  strikes,  you,  Conditional  Neutrals,  economically 
defend  your  national  proletariat  interests  against  your  national  plutocracy, 
you  must  at  the  same  time  and  for  the  sake  of  the  international  doctrine 
which  you  say  you  profess,  not  only  admit  the  justice  of  armed  intervention 
in  every  way  today  in  defense,  not  only  of  the  territorial  integrity  of  your 
nation,  protecting  the  material  interests  of  our  national  proletariat,  but, 
also  in  defense  of  the  territorial  integrity  including  the  material  Interests  of 
all  of  the  other  weaker  nations  assaulted  by  the  common  enemy  (plu- 
tocracy) for  conomic  and  insatiable  greed. 

“If  you  will  persist  in  your  restrictive  attitude.  Conditional  Neutrals, 
you  will  end  by  discrediting  the  cry  synthesizing  the  doctrine  which  you 
boast  that  you  profess,  because  this  cry  was  launched  to  give  a deadly  blow 
by  means  of  the  union  of  workmen  of  every  country,  not  to  the  plutocracy 
of  one  nation  only,  but  to  plutocracies  of  every  nation. 

“If  the  plutocracies  of  every  nation,  instead  of  dying,  continue  to 
fatten  on  the  blood  of  the  workmen  of  every  country,  it  signifies  that  your 
restrictive  action  (that  of  conditional  neutrality)  is  not  the  right  interpre- 
tation of  the  cry  synthesized  in  the  doctrine  reduced  even  to  purely  economic 
terms. 

“And  if,  on  the  other  hand,  the  worjcmen  of  five  of  the  greatest  and 
most  advanced  nations  of  the  world  (France,  England,  Russia,  Japan  and 
Italy) — those  who  have  listened  to  the  gospel  synthesizing  the  doctrine  in 
the  cry,  ‘Workmen  of  all  nations,  unite!’ — ^^had  placed  themselves  militarily 
at  the  side  of  Serbia  and  Belgium,  this  would  have  signified  that  they 
repudiated  the  restrictive  interpretation  of  conditional  neutrality  and  reso- 
lutely put  into  practice,  especially  the  Italian  proletarians,  all  of  the  ideal- 
istic contents,  conspicuously  and  rigorously  international,  which  their  cry 
represented. 

“You,  Conditional  Neutrals,  must  recognize  the  error  into  which  you 
have  fallen  (error,  considering  the  time  in  which  we  live,  considering  the 
formidable  positive  efficiency  reached  by  plutocracies).  You  must  follow 
the  practical  good  sense  of  the  people.  If  you  do  not  do  this,  your  ranks 
will  continually  become  thinner;  you  will  be  swallowed  up  in  the  furious 
whirlwind  of  facts. 


“If  you  obstinately  refuse  to  follow  the  people  in  their  practical  good 
sense,  it  means  that  you  do  not  understand  their  spirit. 

“And  the  people  will  abandon  you,  and  they  will  give  themselves  to 
those  who  will  know  how  to  lead  them  by  a less  tortuous  road  to  their 
emancipation. 

“Because  the  people  are  tired  of  waiting.  Their  physical  and  moral 
sufferings  are  growing  in  proportion  to  the  commodities  and  sensual  pleas- 
ures of  plutocracy.  These  sufferings  have  increased  in  constant  ratio  to  the 
increase  of  the  sensual  pleasure  of  the  plutocracy. 

“The  people  are  tired  of  waiting. 

“Conditional  Neutrals,  meditate  on  these  truths. 

“And  I say  to  the  Absolute  Neutrals : 

“It  is  true,  as  you  have  held  and  as  I myself  maintain,  that  nowadays 
war  is  made  for  the  round-bellies  of  the  plutocrats.  But  who  does  the 
fighting?  Is  it  the  plutocrats  who  fight?  The  plutocrats  only  provoke 
and  direct  wars.  Those  who  in  reality  bear  the  brunt  of  the  war  are  the 
people  whom  the  plutocrats  dominate. 

“Now  among  those  who  are  at  war  are  also  Absolute  Neutrals  garbed 
as  soldiers,  not  willingly  so,  but  because  of  one  of  those  partisan  laws  favor- 
able to  plutocracy  (military  conscription)  which  has  been  spoken  of  before. 

“And  if  they  are  the  people  who  must  fight;  and  if  they  are  your 
brothers;  and  if  their  industrial  and  collective  lives  are  placed  in  jeopardy, 
how  can  you  remain  disinterested  and  inert? 

“You  could  remain  thus  disinterested  and  inert,  only  if  the  plutocrats 
lived  on  a different  planet  from  that  upon  which  the  people  live,  on  which 
your  brothers  live,  and  where  they  could  fight  among  themselves. 

“But  from  the  moment  that  the  plutocrats  inhabit  a planet  inhabited 
also  by  the  people,  your  brothers,  and  with  the  positive  means  at  their  com- 
mand to  enable  them  at  their  pleasure  to  provoke  and  direct  wars,  it  is  nec- 
essary that  you  take  an  interested  and  active  part  in  such  wars. 

“Because  the  plutocrats  lose  nothing  by  wars;  they  always  gain.  It  is 
the  people,  your  brothers,  the  humble,  those  who  have  always  striven  and 
suffered  day  and  night  who  in  war  lose  everything.  Your  absolute  neutral- 
ity— in  the  face  of  the  weak  massacred  on  the  field  of  battle,  before  their 
ravished  virgins,  their  mutilated  children,  their  sacked  and  burned  homes — 
places  you  in  the  same  category  as  the  authorities  (sanctified  afterward  by 
the  church)  who  retire  to  the  solitude  of  the  desert  and  there,  whistling  at 
the  oppressed,  selfishly  and  stupidly  think  of  nothing  except  the  eternal 
salvation  of  their  souls. 

“Your  object:  ‘But  why  don’t  the  people  enter  into  the  sphere  of  our 
ideas  which  have  no  other  reason  for  being  than  that  of  liberating  them  by 
means  of  revolution  (it  not  having  been  possible  up  to  the  present  time  to 
do  so  by  other  means)  from  plutocratic  tyranny  which  starves  and  incites 
them  to  fratricidal  butchery?’ 

“Before  responding  to  such  a question  I assert  my  belief  that  the  indi- 
vidualistic regime  of  life,  which  you  long  for  and  defend,  is  possible.  I 
believe  it  is  possible,  not  because  of  a more  or  less  doctrinaire  pretension, 
but  because  most  men — if  not  all,  certainly  a large  part  of  them — have 
already  touched  the  point  of  moral  purity  sufficient  to  bring  about  the  afore- 
said regime  from  the  theoretic  to  the  practical  stage.  I have  no  need  to 
search  among  the  dead  generations  for  proof  of  this  assertion.  It  suffices 


IS 


for  me  to  look  only  among  the  living,  and  not  farther  than  my  native  land, 
to  find  the  corroborative  proof  of  my  belief  and  affirmation.  Roberto 
Ardigo,  Pasquale  Villari,  Teodoro  Moneta,  Guglielmo  Marconi,^  Who 
would  presume  to  say  that  these  men,  and  others  such  as  these  or  even  of 
lesser  intellectual  qualities  would  have  need  of  any  sort  of  political,  judicial, 
military,  economic  or  religious  authority  to  live  among  themselves  in  perfect 
peace  and  harmony? 

“Besides  this,  there  are  an  infinite  number  of  private  business  associa- 
tions (without  speaking  of  tribes  falsely  called  savage)  which  are  satisfac- 
torily regulated  by  laws  not  written  in  any  code;  by  laws  which  have  no 
substantial  authority  other  than  that  which  each  person  feels  within  himself 
and  obeys  in  his  relation  to  others. 

“He  who  admits  the  law  of  evolution  must  honestly  admit  individ- 
ualism. 

“Because  the  law  of  evolution,  morally  speaking,  implies  nothing  else 
than  the  study  of  human  virtues;  while  individualism  is  nothing  more  than 
the  exercise  of  human  virtues. 

“Evolution  is  nothing  more  than  the  theory  of  civil  life;  individualism 
is  nothing  more  than  the  practice  of  human  life. 

“Individualism — so  far  as  it  represents  the  degree  of  moral  perfection 
already  attained  by  man  and  according  to  which  he  feels  himself  disposed 
to  deal  uprightly  with  his  fellow  man  and  even  capable  of  this — is  the 
supreme  ideal  of  evolution;  or  I might  say,  is  the  complement  of  evolution, 
did  I not  know  that  evolution  as  a synonym  of  progress  is  infinite  and  there- 
fore cannot  have  a complement,  at  least  in  the  absolute  sense. 

“After  making  this  declaration  in  honor  of  the  truth.  Absolute  Neu- 
trals, let  me  say:  the  people  do  not  enter  within  the  radius  of  your  ideas 
because  they  have  not  yet  arrived  at  the  intellectual  heights  necessary  to 
comprehend  the  sublimity  of  the  goal  to  which  you  wish  to  attain.  And 
there  are  others  who  have  reached  such  heights,  but  who  do  not  wish  to 
engage  in  a revolution,  because  of  a repugnance  for  a means  so  violent  and 
sanguinary;  and  more  than  this,  such  methods  have  never  brought,  as  his- 
tory teaches,  substantial  results  proportionate  to  the  efforts  and  sacrifices 
made  by  revolutionists.  Such  methods  have  never  destroyed  as  they  should 
have,  and  they  have  not  even  arrested  the  sturdy  and  arrogant  vitality  of 
plutocracies  which  incarnate  all  of  the  evils  of  society. 

“But  because  the  people  have  not  yet  reached  the  necessary  intellectual 
height,  and  because  they  will  not  engage  in  revolutions,  do  you  believe, 
you  Absolute  Neutrals,  that  you  have  the  right  to  leave  them  to  themselves 
during  a war,  or  to  leave  them  in  the  power  of  the  more  astute,  of  the 
stronger,  of  the  more  malicious? 

“To  tell  the  truth,  such  a vindicative  plan,  however  negative  it  may  be, 
is  not  compatible,  a priori,  with  your  prindples  of  universal  brotherhood. 
It  is  unworthy  of  your  civil  apostolate.  Especially  if  one  considers  that 
you,  outside  of  war  (one  means  military  war),  do  not  hesitate  to  break  the 
rigidity  of  your  absolute  neutrality — which  should  be  invulnerable — by 
descending  in  the  field  to  fight  battles  which  are  of  a strictly  economic 
character;  battles  which  are  not  favorable  to  your  individualistic  theories. 
I am  speaking  of  partial  strikes.  Why  should  one  discuss  general  strikes, 
national  or  international,  if,  from  the  day  that  class  struggle  enters  into  a 

^Since  writing  the  above,  Pasquale  Villari  and  Teodoro  Moneta  have  died.  I substitute 
in  their  places  the  names,  not  less  worthy,  of  Augusto  Murri  and  Isidoro  Del  Lungo. 


practical  phase,  strikes  of  every  category  are  only  made  by  rhetorical  and 
high  sounding  phrases? 

“You  Absolute  Neutrals  have  gone  far  afield,  into  absolutely  hostile 
camps,  to  defend  openly  and  energetically  the  rights  of  those  who  strike 
against  the  cruel  greed  of  plutocracy,  the  competition  of  scabs,  the  violence 
of  gunmen. 

“However,  those  who  strike  do  not  comprise  all  of  the  proletariat,  but 
are  only  a small  part  of  them  (the  privileged  part,  a sort  of  caste),  the 
part  which  is  the  antithesis  of  your  ideas. 

“Because,  according  to  the  idealistic  contents  of  the  doctrines  which 
you  say  you  profess,  you  work  toward  the  entire  amelioration  of  all  op- 
pressed peoples  without  distinction  (there  are  hundreds  of  millions  outside 
of  the  unions)  ; while  the  unionists  who  strike,  work  only  to  their  own 
exclusive  material  amelioration. 

“You  are  working  toward  the  destruction  of  plutocracies  since  you 
are  justly  convinced  that  on  such  destruction  depends  the  solution  of  the 
entire  social  question.  The  unionists  instead,  as  soon  as  they  have  attained 
the  material  betterment  for  which  they  struck,  are  quieted  as  was  the 
famous  Cerberus  of  Dante: 

“ ‘Cerberus,  a cruel  beast  and  strangely  made. 

Barks  out  of  his  three  dog-like  throats 
At  those  who  were  there  submerged. 

“ ‘When  Cerberus,  the  great  worm,  saw  us 
He  opened  his  mouth  and  showed  his  tusks 
And  quivered  in  every  limb. 

My  guide^  ....  took  up  earth : and  with  full 
Fists  cast  it  into  his  ravening  gullets. 

As  the  dog  that  barking  craves  and 
Grows  quiet  when  he  bites  his  food,  for  he 
Strains  and  battles  only  to  devour  it,  so  did 
Those  squalid  visages  of  Cerberus,  the 
Demon,  who  thundered  on  the  spirits  so  they  would 
Fain  be  deaf.’® 

“And  when  the  unionists  believe  themselves  to  be  well  paid,  they  no 
longer  fight  the  plutocrats.  They  recognize  the  legitimate  existence  of  the 
plutocrats;  they  make  them  more  solid;  they  fatten  them  more  and  more. 
They  even  come  to  a point  where  they  admire,  magnify,  and  idolize  them. 
One  can  see  this  in  a thousand  cases.  For  the  sake  of  brevity  I will  cite 
only  two  which  are  truly  typical.  One  case,  proving  my  first  affirmation — 
that  the  unionists  are  selfishly  quieted,  after  they  have  obtained  the  raise  of 
wages  for  which  they  have  struck;  the  second  case  proving  my  second 
affirmation  that  the  unionists,  when  they  believe  themselves  well  paid,  rec- 
ognize even  indirectly  the  legitimate  existence  of  the  plutocracy,  and  fatten 
the  plutocrats  more  and  more  even  though  they  do  so  involuntarily;  they 
admire,  they  magnify,  and  they  even  idolize  them  hypocritically. 

“The  first  case:  The  unionists  who  work  in  the  great  clothing  fac- 
tory of  H.  S.  & M.,  of  Chicago,  Illinois,  one  day  struck  to  obtain  a raise 

"iVirgil. 

“®The  epicures  and  gluttons  of  the  Third  Circle.  Divine  Comedy,  Inferno,  Canto  VI 
(‘Temple  Classics’). 


17 


of  wages  H.  S.  & M.  raised  the  pay,  according  to  the  demands  of  the 
strikers.  These  returned  to  their  work  satisfied.  From  that  moment  one 
saw  no  more  life  among  them,  they  did  not  move  again,  not  even  when  their 
unionist  brothers  (the  other  tailors  of  Chicago)  were  reduced  to  the  most 
miserable  economic  condition  and  struck  solidly  and  fought  desperately  for 
weeks  to  obtain  for  themselves  a raise  of  wages  from  the  other  local  manu- 
facturers.’- 

“The  second  case:  The  employees  of  the  automobile  manufacturer, 
H.  F.,  of  Detroit,  Michigan,  believe  that  they  are  well  paid.  But  this  fact 
does  not  prevent  this  good  man  from  annually  accumulating  millions  and 
millions  of  dollars  for  his  own  benefit  from  the  work  for  which  the  laborers 
believe  (bless  them!)  that  the  munificent  plutocrat  has  paid  them  so  well. 

“And  besides  this,  the  unionists  do  not  even  in  the  final  count  obtain 
for  themselves  the  benefits  for  which  they  have  struck. 

“When  the  plutocrats  accede  to  their  demands  by  augmenting  the  pay 
of  the  strikers,  the  latter  believe  that  they  have  won.  But  this  is  simply 
an  illusion.  The  truth  is  very  different.  And  it  is  the  plutocrats  who  lose 
nothing.  That  which  they  give  with  one  hand,  they  take  with  the  other 
hand;  they  even  retake  double  or  more.  (The  plutocrats  know  arithmetic 
very  well;  intellectually  speaking  they  know  little  besides  arithmetic.) 

“An  example:  the  miners  struck  for  a raise  of  wages.  The  employ- 
ers acceded  to  the  demands  and  increased  their  pay.  But  they  afterward 
sold  the  coal  to  the  same  employees  with  an  increase  of  price,  corresponding 
to  or  more  than  making  up  the  raise  of  wage  which  the  strike  had  obliged 
them  to  yield.  Without  considering  that  such  raises  of  wages,  which  were 
wisely  transformed  by  the  plutocrats  into  a raise  in  price,  falls  on  the  shoul- 
ders also  of  unionists  of  the  other  categories  of  workers  who  have  not 
struck;  it  falls  also  on  the  shoulders  of  the  workmen  who  cannot  or  will 
not  join  the  unions;  it  falls  therefore  on  the  shoulders  of  that  eternal,  use- 
ful, patient,  and  beaten  ass:  the  people. 

“And  who  suffers  the  other  inconveniences  which  are  born  out  of 
strikes?  Certainly  not  the  plutocrats;  instead,  it  is  the  just  who  suffer  for 
the  unjust.  In  the  Chicago  tailors’  strike  of  1915,  of  which  we  have  made 
mention  for  example,  I personally  knew  many  who  at  the  beginning  of  the 
strike  were  without  a penny  in  their  pockets.  These  poor  creatures,  dur- 
ing the  long  weeks  of  the  strike,  did  not  receive  one  cent  of  assistance  from 
the  union  of  which  they  were  a part;  thus  they  and  their  families  suffered 
from  hunger;  while  the  plutocrats  (the  employers  who  resisted  the  strike) 
did  not  miss  their  Lucullan  meals  any  more  than  before  the  strike.  It  is 
true  that  a certain  sum  (a  few  thousand  dollars)  was  collected  at  that  time, 
but  such  alms  (coming  in  great  part  from  private  individuals,  certainly  not 
from  the  proletariat,  and  I do  not  know  with  what  conscience  and  dignity 
it  was  accepted  by  the  strike  leaders)  was  unequal  to  the  needs  of  the 
strikers,  partly  because  it  was  unequally  distributed,  not  to  say  worse. 

“Now  if  you.  Absolute  Neutrals,  take  an  active  part  in  partial  strikes 
to  aid  unionists  who  are  substantially  none  other  than  the  privileged 
minoritv  of  the  proletariat,  as  plutocracy  is  none  other  than  the  privileged 
minoritv  of  the  bourgeoisie,  with  much  more  reason  should  you  take  an 
active  part  in  the  war,  which  is  made  to  aid  the  weaker  nations  to  free 


“^Durins:  the  tailors’  strike  of  Chicago  in  1915  it  was  shown  that  some  women  workers 
did  not  receive  more  than  $1.75  per  week.  Of  this  amount  they  were  obliged  to  use  daily  ten 
cents  for  carfare  to  go  and  return  from  work. 


themselves  from  the  cupidity  of  the  stronger;  in  wars  which  are  much 
nearer  to  revolutions  than  strikes,  especially  if  one  considers  that  only  theo- 
retically do  you  combat  the  unions,  while  you  defend  the  weaker  nations. 
You  theoretically  fight  against  unionist  laborers,  but  practically  you  aid 
them  in  their  strikes  against  their  oppressors.  In  fact,  you  preach  one  thing 
and  you  practice  another. 

“How  much  this  system  has  damaged  your  cause  you  yourselves  can 
well  imagine,  especially  if  you  consider  that  by  aiding  the  unionists  in  a 
strike  you  do  not  destroy  the  positive  forces  of  the  plutocracy,  but  instead, 
you  augment  and  perpetuate  them ; while  aiding  the  weaker  nations  in  war 
you  destroy  the  positive  forces  of  plutocracies;  or  if  you  do  not  destroy 
them,  you  begin  to  destroy  them,  which  amounts  to  the  same  thing. 

“The  groups  which,  inspired  by  the  individualistic  doctrines,  are  hop- 
ing to  reach  their  goal  by  means  of  partial  strikes,  are  like  those  who  grind 
water  in  a mortar;  the  groups  which  obstinately  remain  in  a verbose  and 
virulent  inertia  during  such  a war  as  that  of  Europe — a war  which  opens 
a new  historical  epoch — are  groups  which  are  not  in  touch  with  life,  are 
against  life,  and  in  consequence  against  humanity  which  loves  life,  against 
humanity  which  is  life. 

“They  will  be  struck  by  the  fatal  law  of  elimination  because  of  their 
own  fault.  They  will  perish. 

“Absolute  Neutrals,  meditate  upon  these  truths! 

“The  Italian  people  believed  that  the  theory  of  conditional  neutrality 
(war  only  for  national  defense)  and  the  theory  of  absolute  neutrality 
(peace  at  any  price)  if  put  into  practice  would  have  driven  humanity  back 
into  the  primitive  chaos  of  barbarism  where  nothing  but  brute  force  reigned ; 
would  have  trampled  under  foot  the  foundation  of  every  idea  of  justice  and 
civilization. 

“Because  the  tyrants,  always  thirsting  for  more  riches  and  dominion, 
commit  at  their  pleasure  any  sort  of  crime,  secure  of  immunity.  Who 
indeed  could  punish  them  if  the  people  of  the  nation  who  are  not  impli- 
cated in  wars  (wars  incited  by  the  stronger  nation  which  is  in  the  wrong, 
against  the  weaker  nation  which  is  in  the  right),  did  not  combine  solidly 
and  practically  with  this  latter  ? 

“Non-intervention  before  an  evil  is  committed,  and  the  cry  of  peace 
after  the  evil  is  committed,  would  be  a fine  comedy  for  crowned  and 
uncrowned  villains. 

“In  such  way  the  mine  owner  could  very  well,  for  example,  have  his 
striking  miners,  with  wives  and  children,  killed  by  his  gunmen;  then  he 
could  demand  peace  and  all  would  be  happily  ended. 

“What  a festa!  What  a game! 

“The  splendid  example  of  practical  human  solidarity  given  by  the 
Italian  people,  imposing  on  their  own  government  armed  intervention  in 
the  great  war  in  defense  of  the  weaker  nations  which  were  assaulted  by  the 
stronger,  might  be  pondered  upon  and  imitated  by  other  peoples. 

“This  example  shows  in  a solemn  manner  how  it  may  be  possible, 
even  easy,  to  bring  about  the  spiritual  alliance  of  the  people,  provided  that 
the  Conditional  Neutrals  and  the  Absolute  Neutrals  recognize  their  error. 

“Certain  it  is  that  the  spiritual  alliance  of  a people  will  not  destroy 
miltary  influence  in  twenty-four  hours,  but  by  strengthening,  holding  back 
skillfully  and  energetically  these  forces  against  the  plutocracy  which  owns 


19 


them,  the  spiritual  alliance  of  the  people  would  be  able  immediately  to  put 
an  end  to  war. 

“Do  not  in  heaven’s  name  repeat  the  old  ritornello:  ‘This  war  will 
be  the  last.  This  war  will  signal  the  end  of  militarism.  After  this  war 
we  shall  have  permanent  universal  peace,’  etc. 

“I  conclude: 

“As  long  as  there  are  national  industrial  plutocracies  with  their  related 
commercial  competitions  between  nations,  there  will  be  militarism  and  there 
will  be  war. 

“Because  militarism  (I  speak  of  the  militarism  of  today)  is  none  other 
than  an  organism  created  and  maintained  by  plutocracies  to  defend  the  infi- 
nite interests  of  plutocracies,  the  infinite  increase  of  plutocracies. 

“Plutocracies  are  the  cause.  Militarism  is  the  effect.  Can  one  destroy 
the  effect  without  first  destroying  the  cause? 

“And  can  one  prevent  war  only  by  preaching  peace  and  continuing  to 
kneel  at  the  feet  of  potentates? 

“War  has  existed  since  man  existed. 

“Peace  has  been  preached  since  war  existed. 

“But  the  preaching  of  peace  has  never  been  able  to  prevent  war, 
because  war  is  a material  fact,  is  action,  while  the  preaching  of  peace  is  an 
immaterial  fact;  nothing  but  words. 

“If  the  preaching  of  peace  could  have  prevented  war,  it  would  have 
done  so  from  the  first  day  or  during  the  centuries  in  which  peace  has 
opposed  itself  to  war. 

“And  we  cannot  wait  until  the  potentates  themselves  prevent  it,  be- 
cause war  is  the  life  of  potentates.  And  the  potentates  are  not  so  tender, 
nor  even  so  foolish  as  to  sacrifice  their  own  lives  for  the  love  of  peace. 

“War  will  be  prevented  only  when  the  preaching  of  peace  shall  be 
transformed  into  a spiritual  alliance  of  the  peoples;  only  when  it  shall 
transform  itself  into  the  armed  intervention  of  a people  (allied  spiritually 
among  themselves)  in  defense  of  the  weaker  nation  which  is  in  the  right, 
and  which  has  been  assaulted  by  the  stronger  nations  which  are  in  the 
wrong. 

“Only  then  the  pure  blood  of  the  youth  of  Italy,  and  of  the  whole 
world,  spilled  in  rivers  on  the  fields  of  Europe  for  the  past  three  years,  can 
seriously  prelude  universal  peace  so  longed  for  by  humanity,  and  a lasting 
universal  peace  which  is  so  necessary  to  humanity.” 


Complementary  Notes. 

First  Note:  How  can  one  determine  wrong  from  right? 

Because  of  the  unceasing  struggle  between  men  since  their  savage  state 
up  to  the  present  civilization  (so-called),  they  are  not  in  ignorance  of  the 
elements  which  constituted  and  which  themselves  now  constitute  the  causes 
which  have  provoked  and  now  provoke  struggles. 

It  is  just  in  consequence  of  such  knowledge — the  result  of  the  fratri- 
cidal experience  of  thousands  of  years — that  men  have  learned  to  form  a 
clear  and  definite  idea  of  the  moral  essence  summarized  in  the  words  wrong 
and  right.  Thus  those  two  antithetic  words  have  emerged  from  their  orig- 
inal abstract  and  vague  significance  into  a concrete  and  solid  form,  which 
the  mature  intelligence  of  man  can  discern  without  the  least  effort. 


20 


Second  Note:  How  can  one  judge,  when  a war  breaks  out,  who  is 
in  the  wrong  and  who  is  in  the  right? 

If  men  know,  from  the  fratricidal  experience  of  thousands  of  years, 
the  difference  between  wrong  and  right,  it  is  easy  for  them  to  judge,  when 
a war  breaks  out,  which  side  is  wrong  and  which  is  right.  It  is  easy,  also, 
because  human  judgment  instinctively  seeks  individual  self-preservation, 
which  is  social  preservation.  And  social  preservation  could  not  survive  if 
men,  in  formulating  their  judgments,  did  not  hold  scrupulously  to  the  most 
rigorous  equity:  if  they  should  forget,  or  pretend  to  forget,  that  weaker 
human  beings  have  finally  the  right  to  live  and  to  enjoy  the  blessings  of  life 
with  the  stronger,  or  even  more  than  the  stronger. 

Third  Note:  How  can  one  discredit,  how  can  one  give  a mortal  blow 
to  the  traditional  principle  of  neutrality  ? 

Neutrality  has  always  been  considered  as  a right  legitimately  exer- 
cised by  people  who  were  not  involved  in  war.  And  during  wars,  neutral 
countries  have  enjoyed  the  advantages  of  immunity  and  even  the  respect  of 
the  victims,  that  is  of  the  weaker  nations  which  have  been  provoked, 
assaulted  and  trodden  upon  by  the  stronger  ones. 

If,  however,  the  truth  is  no  longer  hidden  from  the  people;  if  it  is  said 
to  them  that  neutrality,  instead  of  being  a right  legitimately  exercised,  is  an 
act  of  collective  and  cruel  selfishness  which  encourages  and  perpetuates  war : 
an  act  of  shameful  collective  cowardice  which  makes  a neutral  nation  an 
accomplice  of  the  strong  who  wish  to,  and  do  make  war;  that  it  is  the  grav- 
est sort  of  a crime  which  is  committed  against  society;  that  it  is  the  gravest 
sort  of  crime  committed  toward  that  spiritual  substratum  which  should 
regulate  the  life  of  society  and  assure  its  progress  toward  the  more  sincere 
and  practical  ideals  of  human  brotherhood:  a crime  for  which  neutrals 
should  be  proclaimed  enemies  to  humanity  by  the  public  opinion  of  the 
world,  and  as  such  should  be  morally  condemned  to  contempt  and  execra- 
tion, and  materially,  should  be  condemned  to  commercial  boycotting,  to 
starvation:  then  neutrality  will  lose  its  prestige,  and,  with  its  prestige,  its 
reason  for  being. 

Fourth  Note:  How  can  a neutral  people  force  its  own  government  to 
take  part  in  a war,  when  it  breaks  out,  in  defense  of  the  right  side? 

The  people  taken  en  masse  do  not  belong  to  any  party;  they  do  not 
serve  any  privileged  class.  They  are  free.  They  are  powerful.  “Its  own 
are  all  things  between  earth  and  heaven,”  says  Tommaso  Campanella. 
Consequently  they  are  impartial : that  is  to  say  they  are  inclined  by  natural 
impulse  to  judge  with  perfect  honesty  between  wrong  and  right  in  a war 
which  may  break  out  between  two  or  more  nations. 

It  was  just  this  inflexible  rectitude — maintained  uncorrupted  and  un- 
daunted through  the  social  storms  of  all  ages — which  created  the  well 
known  and  significant  phrase  vox  populi,  vox  Dei,  which  fully  symbolizes 
the  idea  of  human  justice. 

The  people,  being  free,  powerful  and  impartial,  are  also  generous ; they 
feel  the  offenses  offered  to  others  as  if  they  were  offered  to  themselves,  and 
an  irresistible  and  heroic  force,  which  I have  called  human  solidarity,  always 
impels  them  to  take  the  side  of  the  weaker  who  have  been  provoked  and 
assaulted  by  the  stronger. 

Therefore  it  would  he  easy  for  a people,  in  case  of  impending  war,  to 
force  its  own  government — which  would  obstinately  keep  the  nation  neutral 


21 


in  the  interests  of  the  belligerent  side  which  is  in  the  wrong — to  armed 
intervention  in  favor  of  the  side  which  is  right. 

That  this  was  not  difficult  of  accomplishment,  was  proved  by  the 
Italian  people  in  the  spring  of  1915  in  a manner  now  written  large  in  his- 
tory; in  a manner  which  can  well  be  an  example  to  all  peoples  and  an 
admonition  to  all  governments,  present  and  future,  in  all  parts  of  the  world. 

Fifth  Note:  What  reason  have  I for  the  belief  that  only  by  the 
abolition  of  neutrality  can  war  be  quickly  and  forever  prevented  ? 

Three  thousand  four  hundred  and  sixteen  years  elapsed  between  the 
making  of  the  first  treaty  known  to  history,  that  of  the  Amphictyones  in 
1496  B.  C.,  up  to  breaking  out  of  the  great  war  July  28,  1914. 

During  this  time  there  were  fifteen  hundred  treaties  stipulated  in  the 
world,  various  ones  of  which  were  called  leagues.  A treaty  was  signed  on 
an  average  of  once  every  twenty-seven  months.  Treaties  of  peace,  arbitra- 
tion, division,  alliance,  confederation,  composition,  commerce,  friendship, 
concord,  union,  reconciliation,  navigation,  subsidies,  etc.  Treaties  of  per- 
petual confederation,  perpetual  peace,  perpetual  alliance,  perpetual  union, 
good  friendship,  definite  peace,  etc.^ 

But  all  of  these  things  have  not  succeeded  in  preventing  wars. 

And  much  less  could  the  League  of  Nations  succeed,  formed,  as  it  was, 
during  the  year  1919  as  a corollary  of  the  great  war. 

No  treaty  can  prevent  war.  No  treaty  could  ever  prevent  war.  Be- 
cause the  present  treaties,  including  that  which  is  called  the  League  of 
Nations,  are  nothing  other — and  treaties  of  the  future  could  be  nothing 
other — than  a repetition  of  preceding  treaties.  Because  the  present  treaties, 
including  that  which  is  called  League  of  Nations,  do  not  represent,  and 
future  treaties  could  not  represent,  the  genuine  will  of  the  people,  but  they 
do  represent  and  could  represent  instead,  as  have  the  preceding  treaties,  the 
authority  of  the  governments  which  always  have  been  emanations  of  the 
privileged  classes  and  not  the  emanation  of  the  people,  as  I positively  demon- 
strated in  the  chapter  entitled  Human  Solidarity;  and,  indeed,  as  has  been 
too  well  confirmed  by  the  facts  officially  and  publicly  laid  before  the  world 
from  the  day  when  the  peace  negotiations  were  begun  at  the  Paris  Con- 
ference up  to  the  present  time. 

Only  my  idea  against  neutrality — a conception  which  never  before  has 
been  advanced  in  any  part  of  the  world  nor  in  any  epoch — can  quickly  and 
forever  prevent  war. 

Only  by  this  newest  conception,  based  exclusively  on  the  just  authority 
of  the  people  and  not  on  the  partisan  authority  of  the  governments,  can 
finally — after  thousands  of  years  of  hate,  struggles,  bloodshed,  extermina- 
tion, sorrow,  mourning  and  misery  of  every  sort — be  initiated  on  the  earth 
the  true  and  perennial  kingdom  of  peace,  love  and  happiness. 


^The  number  ISOO  includes  only  the  “principal”  treaties,  not  those  of  "secondary”  im- 
portance ; not  the  permanent  tribunal  of  international  arbitration  at  the  Hague  instituted 
July  29,  1899;  not  the  national  and  international  peace  societies  and  Congresses  which 
flourished  before  and  after  the  above  tribunal. 


23 


Extracts  from  Press  Reviews  of  the  book,  “Why  Italy  Entered 
Into  the  Great  War,”  from  which  the  chapter  entitled  “Human 
Solidarity”  here  reproduced  is  taken. 


THE  MANCHESTER  GUARDIAN  (Manchester,  England)  : 

“Why  Italy  entered  into  the  Great  War.”  By  Luigi  Carnovale.  In  English 
and  Italian.  Chicago:  Italian-American  Publishing  Company.  Pp.  673. 

To  the  deep  love  of  country  which  has  inspired  this  book  is  added  the 
pathos  of  exile.  The  writer  who  cannot  be  in  the  midst  of  the  fighting  and 
struggle  in  his  native  land,  has  put  into  his  work  a burning  zeal  and  energy. 
Others  will  fight  better  because  of  him,  he  hopes.  Italia  chiamb.  Alas!  all  his 
care  in  documentation  may  go  unrewarded  yet  awhile,  for  the  world  is  reading 
newspapers,  pamphlets,  and  brief  impressions,  and  has  hardly  the  time — or 
rather  the  patience — for  such  fundamental  work  as  Signor  Carnovale’s.  But  he 
writes  for  a judicial  time,  which  shall  surely  come;  and  he  has  given  himself 
space  and  leisure  in  stating  the  whole  case  of  his  country.  Such  a book  has 
permanent  value  as  a source  of  reference,  from  the  very  completeness  which  may 
frighten  hasty  readers  today.  So  we  have  the  whole  story  of  the  relations  of 
Italy  and  Austria  from  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  told  in  great  detail, 
with  copious  notes  and  documents.  The  tale  of  the  Trentino,  the  tale  of  Trieste, 
the  old  memories  of  the  Risorgimento  and  of  the  martyrs  are  here  to  rouse  the 
heart  that  sinks  a little  under  the  rather  poor  story  of  official  Italy  under  the 
Triplice.  It  comes  down  to  the  entry  of  Italy  into  the  war,  and  contains  much 
that  English  readers  did  not  find  in  their  newspapers. 

* * * This  crowded  and  enthusiastic  book  may  strike  some  as  fanatical 

should  they  happen  on  the  reference  to  Meucci,  “the  defrauded  inventor  of  the 
telephone  which  today  is  called  the  Bell.”  But  Signor  Carnovale’s  own  theme  is 
too  -absorbing  to  admit  of  many  irrelevances — it  is  the  only  one — and  his  duty 
too  clear;  to  justify  the  fighters  throughout  the  generations,  and  to  win  for 
them  not  merely  reasoned  approval  but  the  recognition  of  their  glory. 

THE  LONDON  TIMES  (London,  England)  : 

The  author  writes  this  book  to  defend  his  country  from  the  charges  made 
that  Italy  had  been  guilty  of  treachery  in  declaring  void  the  treaty  of  the 
Triple  Alliance. 

OXFORD  JOURNAL  (Oxford,  England)  : 

Sig.  Canovale  gives  the  full  text  of  the  communications  which  passed  between 
the  Great  Powers  in  the  last  few  days  before  the  war  commenced.  This  fact 
alone  renders  the  work  of  permanent  value. 

BRISTOL  EVENING  NEWS  (Bristol,  England) : 

All  students  of  European  politics  should  read  “Why  Italy  Entered  into  the 
Great  War,”  by  Luigi  Carnovale.  It  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  works  which 
has  been  issued  since  the  outbreak  of  the  war. 

BRISTOL  TIMES  AND  MIRROR  (Bristol,  England)  : 

A glance  only  at  Luigi  Carnovale’s  volume,  “Why  Italy  Entered  into  the 
Great  War,”  will  be  found  enough  to  convince  the  most  sceptical  of  the  right- 
eousness of  Italy’s  action. 

EDINBURGH  EVENING  DISPATCH  (Edinburgh,  Scotland): 

* * * The  book  is  passionately  patriotic.  * * * The  general  reader  will 

find  enough  to  clearly  understand  the  Italian’s  motive  in  entering  the  war  and 
will  follow  the  operations  on  the  Italian  front  with  mor?  interest  and  deeper 
sympathy. 

THE  EVENING  NEWS  (Edinburgh,  Scotland): 

* * * From  a chapter  showing  the  splendid  patriotism  which  prompted  our 

Allies’  action  the  writer  goes  on  to  show  that  the  love  of  humanity  had  much  to 


23 


do  with  the  decision.  * • * The  refutation  of  the  charge  that  British  and 

French  gold  held  sway  forms  an  enlightening  chapter. 

THE  GLASGOW  HERALD  (Glasgow,  Scotland): 

* * * ^ Sig.  Carnovale  has  carried  out  with  meticulous  care  his  self-imposed 
task  of  justifying  to  the  world  the  action  of  his  native  country  in  entering  the 
war.  • * * Part  IV  recapitulates  with  all  of  the  author’s  idealistic  fervor 
the  actual  reasons  which  plunged  his  country  into  the  strife. 

THE  EVENING  TIMES  (Glasgow,  Scotland)  : 

In  a handsome  volume  of  almost  700  pages  Signor  Luigi  Carnovale  justifies 
the  action  of  his  native  country  in  breaking  the  Triple  Alliance.  » * * Of  course 
the  people  of  this  country  and  France  need  no  such  justification.  But  Signor  Carno- 
vale’s  volume  is  none  the  less  interesting  and  valuable.  * * * The  present 
generation  of  readers  knows  comparatively  little  of  what  the  Italian  Peninsula 
passed  through  from  the  time  of  Maria  Theresa  down  to  the  unification  in  1870. 

* * * Here  in  the  first  part  of  the  book  we  have  the  story  told  briefly  and 

in  the  enthusiastic  language  of  intense  patriotism.  * * * The  second  part  is 

of  equal  interest  and  perhaps  of  greater  importance.  * * * In  the  third  part 

Signor  Carnovale  deals  with  the  events  leading  up  to  Italy’s  entrance  on  the 
field  of  strife.  This  section  is  of  special  value  for  the  official  documents  which 
it  includes.  * * * The  fourth  and  concluding  part  is  that  most  character- 
istic of  the  author’s  fervid  style.  * * * It  may  be  explained  that  the  great 
bulk  of  this  noteworthy  contribution  to  the  history  of  the  war  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  it  includes  not  only  an  excellent  English  translation,  but  the  original  Italian 
text. 

SCOTSMAN  (Edinburgh,  Scotland)  : 

Sig.  Carnovale’s  volume  is  physically  rather  a heavy  book  because  it  appears 
in  two  languages — English  and  Italian,  but  there  is  no  sort  of  heaviness  at  all 
about  its  literary  or  about  its  patriotic  spent. 

THE  CORK  EXAMINER  (Cork,  Ireland)  : 

* * * It  is  evident  that  the  author  caused  much  examination  of  conscience  in 
the  United  States  even  before  that  country  joined  in  on  the  same  side  as  Italy. 

THE  HAMILTON  DAILY  TIMES  (Hamilton,  Canada) : 

This  is  an  ambitious  and  important  volume,  one  half  of  which  is  in  the 
English  language  and  the  other  half  in  the  Italian  language.  It  Is  a defense 
of  Italy’s  participation  in  the  war  by  Luigi  Carnovale,  the  Italian  author  and 
statesman. 

THE  AUCKLAND  STAR  (Auckland,  New  Zealand,  Australia)  : 

The  author  of  “Why  Italy  Entered  into  the  Great  War,”  an  Italian  by 
birth,  living  in  the  United  States,  possesses  the  special  qualifications  for  his 
task  in  that  he  knows  intimately  the  feelings  and  aspirations  of  the  Italian 
people,  and  at  the  same  time,  because  of  his  residence  in  America,  is  able  to 
bring  to  bear  upon  recent  events  something  of  the  judicial  spirit  which  is  diffi- 
cult to  preserve  in  the  midst  of  the  popular  excitement  that  prevails  in  a country 
actively  engaged  in  a great  war.  Signor  Carnovale  vigorously  resents  the 
suggestion  that  Italy  entered  the  war  from  a selfish  desire  to  acquire  Trent 
and  Trieste,  or  that  she  was  guilty  of  an  act  of  treachery  in  declaring  void 
the  treaty  of  the  Triple  Alliance.  He  shows  that  the  sentiments  which  irre- 
sistibly pushed  Italy  to  war  were  sympathy  for  the  weak  nations  whose  liberty 
and  honour  were  assailed  by  the  Central  Powers.  * * * The  author  sustains  his 

contentions  by  copious  quotations  from  public  documents.  His  book  is  a valuable 
contribution  to  the  history  of  the  war. 

LE  RAPPEL  (Paris,  France)  : 

There  has  been  called  to  our  attention  a large  and  fine  volume  by  Luigi 
Carnovale,  published  in  Chicago  in  English  and  Italian,  “Why  Italy  Entered 
into  the  Great  War.”  * * * The  question  of  irredentism  is  treated  in  a 

masterful  manner. 

REVUE  BLEUE  (Paris,  France) : 

The  object  of  the  work  by  Luigi  Carnovale  is  to  explain  to  the  Americans 


24 


the  reasons  for  which  Italy  entered  into  the  war  against  her  ancient  allies. 

* • * One  of  the  most  important  points  which  the  author  brings  out  is  a 
respect  for  the  rights  of  the  weaker  and  love  for  humanity. 

DIARIO  DE  NOTICIAS  (Lisbon,  Portugal): 

Of  all  of  the  works  on  the  war  which  have  passed  through  our  hands  in 
these  tragic  years,  none  has  seemed  more  complete,  more  minute  and  more  con- 
clusive than  that  written  by  Signor  Carnovale.  * * * it  clears  many  points 
which  at  first  seemed  complicated  even  in  the  eyes  of  the  best  educated.  * * * 
We  recognize  in  the  work  of  Signor  Carnovale  a burning  love  of  country,  an 
ardor  of  defense  which  was  necessary  to  confute  the  adversaries  who  accused 
Italy. 

LA  RAZON  (Buenos  Aires,  Argentina) : 

Signor  Carnovale  with  a vast  erudition  and  a clear  historical  vision  narrates 
in  “Why  Italy  Entered  into  the  Great  War”  events  from  ancient  times  to  the 
great  national  and  international  movements  which  preceded  the  consolidation  of 
the  Italian  unity.  * * * The  author  of  this  interesting  book  shows  himself 
to  be  an  Italian  inamoured  of  his  country  and  of  the  ideals  of  its  history,  and 
he  shows  himself  to  be  an  historian  of  exceptional  value.  His  work  will  serve 
to  increase  the  love  and  respect  of  the  public  for  the  great  Italy  which  is  fighting 
and  triumphing. 

THE  JAPAN  TIMES  (Tokyo- Yokohama,  Japan) : 

Mr.  Carnovale’s  former  book  on  the  immigrants  in  North  America  has  won 
him  a reputation  as  a student  of  international  affairs  and  a capable  writer. 

THE  UNION  (Shanghai,  China): 

This  work  of  673  pages  gives  the  history  of  Italy.  It  is  full  of  illuminating 
reading  and  exceedingly  interesting.  The  book  is  well  worth  reading. 

SOUTH  CHINA  MORNING  POST  (Hongkong,  China)  : 

Mr.  Carnovale’s  book  is  very  readable  and  should  interest  everyone  who  is 
interested  in  Italy.  The  author  has  a consummate  grasp  of  Italian  history. 

SHANGHAI  MERCURY  (Shanghai,  China): 

To  those  who  wish  to  know  why  Italy  entered  into  the  great  war,  we 
recommend  this  well  written  and  valuable  work.  English  and  alien  readers  will 
find  it  well  worth  studying.  The  author,  who  is  proud  of  his  country,  in  issuing 
this  book  has  bestowed  on  Italy  an  excellent  deed  which  deserves  his  country’s 
thanks. 

THE  CHICAGO  EVENING  POST  (Chicago,  Illinois)  : 

The  author  gives  an  historical  justification  for  Italy’s  entry  into  the  war 
that  is  complete.  He  gives  this  not  only  as  an  historian  but  as  an  Italian;  that 
is  to  say  he  puts  over  the  actual  feeling  as  well  as  the  intellectual  position  of 
the  patriotic  Italian.  And  lastly  he  writes  as  a philosopher  whose  vision  is 
not  bounded  by  the  war,  who  does  not  visualize  war  as  something  good  in  con- 
tradistinction to  something  puerile  called  pacifism,  but  who  can  see  pacifism 
as  a good  which  is  to  be  won  through  the  present  war.  * * * Mr.  Carnovale, 

who,  according  to  an  announcement,  will  shortly  give  us  a life  of  the  great 
Italian  thinker  Campanella,  is  himself  what  might  be  called  an  Utopian  phil- 
osopher. He  sees  this  war  as  the  logical  result  of  a system  of  life  that  has  been 
contemptuous  of  Utopian  dreaming  and  he  sees  the  futility  of  the  age-long  efforts 
to  reform  jt.  * * * Mr.  Carnovale’s  pages  reveal  the  typical  Italian  as  a 
man  with  a vivid  historical  sense  as  well  as  the  artistic  sense,  with  which  alone 
we  credit  him.  He  is  emotional,  it  is  true,  but  when  he  puts  his  emotions  into 
“lost  causes,”  causes  which  he  knows  send  their  adherents  to  martyrdom,  people 
of  slower  blood  must  take  off  their  hats.  * * # To  read  these  pages  is  to 

understand  very  thoroughly  and  to  sympathize  deeply  with  Italy’s  aims  in  the 
war.  To  read  the  concluding  chapter  is  to  realize  that  after  Kultur  has  been 
put  into  its  place,  the  Latin  spirit  may  have  momentous  contributions  to  make 
to  our  revolving  human  life.  In  the  past  our  educational  orientation  toward 
Germany  has  given  us  a very  incomplete  share  in  European  culture.  France 
we  have  known  fairly  well,  but  of  Italian  thought  we  have  known  very  little. 
Mr.  Carnovale  may  do  much  to  correct  our  perspective. 


25 


THE  CHICAGO  TRIBUNE  (Chicago,  Illinois)  : 

Mr.  Carnovale  has  been  thorough  in  his  explanations.  * * * In  the  con- 
cluding chapter  the  author  says  that  “the  present  war  is  the  logical  and  natural 
epilogue  of  the  evils  committed  by  the  privileged  class  during  their  long  dominion 
over  the  world.”  This  privileged  and  dominant  class  must  pass  away,  Mr. 
Carnovale  declares,  and  “from  the  ruins  of  this  great  war,  saturated  by  the 
blood  and  anguish  of  all  the  human  family,  will  arise  a breath  of  new  and 
vitalizing  energy.  This  breath  will  create  a new  order  of  men,  who  will  be 
omnipotent,  and  who  will  be  called  the  Omnipotents.”  The  function  of  this  high 
order  will  be  to  defend  the  rights  of  humanity — “their  work  will  be  like  the 
gradual,  fruitful  virtue  of  the  sun  which  appears  every  morning  on  the  horizon.” 

* * • Upon  this  note  of  poetic  vision  the  book  closes.  This  uplift  of  hope 

and  ardor  of  expression  should  not  be  regarded  as  in  any  way  an  indication  of 
careless  historic  research  or  record.  It  is  rather  the  effort  of  a creative  and 
eager  "mind  to  lift  itself  above  the  dark  chaos  and  agony  of  the  present  time. 

THE  CHICAGO  DAILY  JOURNAL  (Chicago,  Illinois)  : 

This  is  a book  with  a double  text,  English  and  Italian  • * • and  a very 
interesting  book  it  is. 

CHICAGO  HERALD  AND  EXAMINER  (Chicago,  Illinois): 

Mr.  Carnovale  has  a strong,  firm  grasp  on  history,  and  he  goes  back  many 
decades  to  trace  the  evolution  of  causes  behind  Italy’s  union  with  the  Allies. 

* * * This  volume  should  be  a valuable  addition  to  the  library  of  any 
person  who  would  delve  deeply  into  the  motives  behind  the  war. 

THE  WOMEN’S  PRESS  (Chicago,  Illinois): 

In  reviewing  “Why  Italy  Entered  into  the  Great  War,”  by  Luigi  Carnovale, 
one  feels  a debt  of  gratitude  to  the  author  for  those  details  of  Italy’s  history  of 
which  most  of  us  are  in  ignorance.  The  history  of  Italy  lacks  the  dramatic 
quality  of  France.  The  French  emotionalism  makes  for  picturesqueness.  The 
Italian  temperament  is  rather  one  of  passionate  loyalty,  a dogged  belief  in  its 
rights,  and  the  firm  adherence  to  those  rights,  which  is  the  making  of  martyrs. 
The  book  on  the  whole  is  a valuable  acquisition  to  our  ever  increasing  war 
library.  In  the  author’s  purity  of  diction,  his  precision  of  execution  and  his 
unbiased  but  patriotic  point  of  view,  he  has  given  us  a document  of  enormous 
value,  not  only  as  a book  of  reference,  but  as  a work  of  history  which  an  eager 
army  of  knowledge  seekers  will  glady  welcome. 

UNITY  (Chicago,  Illinois) : 

Our  own  Chicago  Carnovale  has  produced  in  “Why  Italy  Entered  Into  the 
Great  War,”  what  is  unquestionably  the  most  valuable  contribution  to  European 
political  history  that  has  been  inspired  by  the  war.  It  is  a book  that  will  stay 
on  the  shelf  of  the  student,  and  whoever  undertakes  to  deal  with  Italian  subjects 
or  interests  will  have  to  reckon  with  this  book.  * * * It  is  not  alone  to  this 
portion  of  Mr.  Carnovale’s  book,  however,  that  today’s  student  of  international 
affairs  should  turn,  but  particularly  to  his  very  remarkable  chapter  on  “Human 
Solidarity,”  in  which  he  sets  forth  a point  of  view  as  interesting  as  it  is  unique. 

* * * In  a phrase,  the  solution  offered  for  the  prevention  of  war  is  the 
abolition  of  neutrality.  Mr.  Carnovale  urges  that  every  nation,  when  a weaker 
nation  is  attacked  by  a stronger,  should  leap  to  arms  in  defense  of  the  weaker 
nation,  on  the  ground  that  “the  cause  of  the  weak  is  always  beautiful,  sacred 
and  worthy  of  victory.”  Had  the  Central  Powers,  he  contends,  known  that  no 
nation  would  remain  neutral,  but  that  instantly,  upon  the  attempted  infringe- 
ment of  the  independence  of  Serbia,  the  w’orld  would  have  taken  up  arms  in  her 
defense,  they  would  never  have  entered  upon  their  disastrous  enterprise.  • * * 
It,  of  course,  is  obvious  that  the  weaker  nation  may  not  always  be  in  the  right, 
but  it  must  be  remembered  that  it  is  the  people,  and  not  the  governments,  upon 
which  the  author  is  relying  for  action.  It  is  that  fundamental  sense  of  justice 
and  right,  that  almost  instinctive  feeling  for  human  liberty,  characteristic  of  the 
masses  of  the  people  everywhere,  which  he  believes  could  be  depended  upon  to 
determine  whether  the  weaker  nation  involved  in  any  given  case  is  right  or 
wrong.  * • * This  deep,  spontaneous,  untaught  wisdom  of  the  people  puts 
to  shame  the  self-seeking  diplomacy  of  their  rulers.  Just  as  in  the  late  war, 
the  people  of  Italy,  cognizant  of  the  human  issues  involved,  forced  their  govern- 


26 


ment  to  enter  the  conflict  in  behalf  of  little  Serbia  and  Belgium,  so  it  seems 
probable  that  the  people  of  any  nation,  since  the  people  are  always  far  ahead  of 
their  governments  in  love  of  liberty  and  devotion  to  justice,  might  in  any 
given  case  force  such  action  upon  their  governments  as  would  bring  about  inter- 
vention on  the  side  of  right.  It  is  this  divine  common  sense  of  the  people  of 
the  world  which  Mr.  Carnovale  embodies  in  his  phrase,  “Human  Solidarity.” 
It  is,  of  course,  only  in  this  spiritual  entente  of  the  peoples  of  the  world  that  the 
hope  of  the  w'orld  lies  today.  The  need  is  for  them  to  learn  how  to  make  this 

force  effective  that  they  may  more  readily  control  their  governments  instead  of 

being  controlled  by  them.  Then  one  might  hope,  not  only  for  the  defense  of  a 

weaker  nation,  but  for  such  action  on  the  part  of  the  people  of  an  aggressor 

nation  as  would  prevent  its  aggression. 

THE  DIAL  (Chicago,  Illinois)  rf 

A work  of  marked  value  for  the  study  of  one  phase  of  the  present  world- 
conflict  is  Luigi  Carnovale’s  bi-lingual  volume,  “Why  Italy  Entered  into  the 
Great  War.”  * * * Mr.  Carnovale  has  a reputation  as  a journalist  both 
in  Italy  and  America  and  is  one  of  the  younger  school  of  radical  reformers. 

* * * As  a resident  of  Chicago  he  casts  his  eye  not  only  over  the  Great  War, 
but  over  some  of  the  lesser  wars,  which  in  our  own  city  and  country  have  been 
caused  by  economic  injustice. 

fNow  of  New  York,  N.  Y. 

THE  ROCKFORD  DAILY  STAR  (Rockford,  Illinois)  : 

The  latest  book  by  Luigi  Carnovale  deals  with  Italian  history  in  an  orderly 
though  very  spirited  manner.  Signor  Carnovale  writes  with  fluency  and  force. 
His  words  have  what  is  now  commonly  understood  as  “pep.”  The  text,  printed 
in  both  English  and  Italian,  will  hold  the  reader  in  rapt  interest,  whether  he 
may  choose  to  differ  with  the  author  on  sociological  questions  or  not. 

THE  JOLIET  HERALD-NEJVS  (Joliet,  Illinois)  : 

* * * These  are  the  reasons  given  by  Luigi  Carnovale  for  the  appearance 
of  one  of  the  most  careful  and  instructive  analysis  that  we  have  seen,  bearing 
upon  the  European  war.  Signor  Carnovale,  now  a resident  of  Chicago  and 
author  of  several  noteworthy  volumes,  tells  in  English  and  Italian  “Why  Italy 
Entered  into  the  Great  War.”  The  painstaking  research  of  Signor  Carnovale 
has  produced  a volume  valuable,  not  only  for  its  complete  justification  of  Italy’s 
course  in  the  European  conflict,  but  as  an  historical  work. 

THE  BULLETIN  (San  Francisco,  California)  : 

It  is  by  far  the  most  comprehensive  volume  on  this  subject  that  has  thus 
far  come  to  us  and  explains  fully  the  position  of  Italy. 

LOS  ANGELES  EXAMINER  (Los  Angeles,  California) ; 

If  ever  there  lived  one  peculiarly  fitted  to  enact  the  role  of  advocate  and 
apologist  for  the  Italian  people,  that  man  is  Luigi  Carnovale,  author  of  “Whv 
Italy  Entered  into  the  Great  War.”  It  is  a great  book  in  some  respects.  * * * 
It  is  a mine  of  information  in  regard  to  the  history  of  the  Peninsula  during  the 
nineteenth  century.  True,  this  elaborate  and  comprehensive  resume  is  written 
with  a pen  dipped  in  vitriol ; but  the  student  of  weltpolitik  will  not  mind  that  on 
account  of  its  value  as  history  for  ready  reference.  * • * These  contributions 
to  the  literature  of  the  struggle  are  important  enough  to  entitle  Signor  Carnovale’s 
work  to  an  important  place  in  every  international,  diplomatic,  public  and  well 
equipped  private  library  in  the  United  States.  The  book  is  scholarly,  interesting 
and  impressive. 

LOS  ANGELES  TIMES  (Los  Angeles,  California)  : 

No  part  of  public  school  education  is  more  deficient  in  fact  than  that  relating 
to  modern  Italy;  and  as  a result  comparatively  few  Americans  have  more  than 
the  vaguest  conception  of  an  historical  background.  * * * Signor  Carnovale, 

with  the  dramatic  and  temperamental  enthusiasm  of  his  race,  has  written  this 
comprehensive  book  to  show  the  reasons  for  Italy’s  course. 

THE  LOS  ANGELES  TRIBUNE  (Los  Angeles,  California)  : 

This  book  makes  Italy’s  case  clear  to  the  world  and  is  one  of  the  most 
important  documents  of  the  war. 


27 


SOUTHWESTERN  FREEMASON  (Los  Angeles,  California)  : 

An  historical  volume  (“Italy  and  the  Great  War”)  which  is  a pertinent 
contribution  to  the  literature  of  these  eventful  times. 

OAKLAND  TRIBUNE  (Oakland,  California) : 

Carnovale’s  book  is  a hideous  record,  vrritten  with  clarity,  sanity,  and 
deliberation,  leading  the  mind  to  see  a series  of  pictures  beginning  with  old 
Roman  days  and  proving  the  historic  rights  of  Italy  and  the  lands  she  claims 
today.  The  struggles  of  Dante,  Garibaldi,  Mazzini,  Cavour  and  other  patriots 
to  realize  this  complete  unity  are  graphically  and  poetically  set  forth,  for  the 
author  is  a natural  poet  as  well  as  a vivid  historian. 

MERCURY  HERALD  (San  Jose,  California)  : 

Flaming  bursts  of  patriotism  illuminate  each  chapter  in  spite  of  an  evident 
desire  to  relate  impartially  the  wrongs  which  Italy  has  suffered.  It  is  good  to 
know  a patriot  such  as  Signor  Carnovale;  it  is  inspiring  to  read  his  book,  and 
long  before  one  arrives  at  the  final  determination  of  Italy  to  enter  the  war  in 
1915  not  a doubt  remains  but  that  it  was  high  sentiments  only  which  pushed  the 
Italians  to  war  against  Austria.  Beyond  a doubt,  Italy’s  position  has  been  vin- 
dicated long  since,  but  if  there  remain  any  thoughtful  Americans  who  still  question 
it  they  should  read  this  masterful  volume. 

THE  LOS  ANGELES  TRIBUNE  (Los  Angeles,  California)  : 

This  book  makes  Italy’s  case  clear  to  the  world  and  Is  one  of  the  most 
important  documents  of  the  war. 

THE  HARTFORD  COURANT  (Hartford,  Connecticut); 

The  book  is  a valuable  historical  work  apart  from  its  prime  motive,  and 
contains  a mass  of  Information  which  should  prove  useful  in  justifying  both  to 
English  and  Italian  readers  the  course  taken  by  Italy  in  the  present  conflict. 

THE  HARTFORD  TIMES  (Hartford,  Connecticut)  : 

This  large  and  important  volume  gives  in  both  English  and  Italian  the 
reasons  for  Italy’s  entrance  into  the  tvar  on  the  side  of  the  Allies.  Signor  Carno- 
vale has  made  quite  clear  that  the  true  place  of  Italy  is  with  those  peoples  who 
fight  for  government  by  the  people. 

WATERBURY  REPUBLICAN  (Waterbury,  Connecticut): 

Luigi  Carnovale,  the  brilliant  historian  of  Chicago,  has  just  produced  a 
bulky  book,  “Why  Italy  Entered  into  the  Great  War.”  The  author  shows  the 
artist’s  hand  often  in  the  marshalling  of  his  facts.  The  passage  of  the  death 
of  the  wife  of  Garibaldi  Is  powerfully  pathetic.  Not  long,  however,  does 
Carnovale  rest  on  this  or  any  other  theme.  There  is  a nervous  energy,  a stir 
of  the  library  impulse  surging  through  every  chapter. 

WASHINGTON  EVENING  STAR  (Washington,  District  of  Columbia) : 

It  Is  a brilliant  exposition — argument,  description,  persuasion — ^with  the  fires 
of  its  own  Italian  spirit  shimmering  through  it.  Eminently  worth  one’s  study 
and  consideration  is  this  fervid  and  eloquent  study  of  Italy  in  the  light  of  its 
present  glorious  contribution  to  the  war  for  the  world’s  freedom, 

THE  ATLANTA  CONSTITUTION  (Atlanta,  Georgia)  : 

The  reader  will  find  this  one  of  the  most  Interesting  books  that  has  been 
written  during  the  war  and  it  will  take  its  place  as  one  of  the  best  reference 
books  that  has  been  published  up  to  this  time. 

THE  INDIANAPOLIS  STAR  (Indianapolis,  Indiana)  : 

Carnovale’s  book  is  printed  both  in  English  and  Italian  and  is  well  written 
in  a straightforward,  connected  narrative  form.  He  presents  the  case  of  his 
country  not  emotionally,  but  calmly  and  judicially,  but  it  is  a story  to  excite  the 
sympathy  and  to  stir  die  heart  of  humanity.  * * * The  author  is  a news- 

paper writer  of  experience  and  standing,  and  his  work  has  the  stamp  of 
authority. 

THE  AMERICAN  FREEMASON  (Storm  Lake,  Iowa): 

• * * The  work  has  an  enduring  value,  of  Interest  beyond  the  period  of 
the  war. 


28 


THE  COURIER-JOURNAL  (Louisville,  Kentucky) : 

The  average  American  is  abysmally  ignorant  of  modern  Italian  history.  He 
may  have  a smattering  of  French,  English  and  German  history  in  the  past  fifty 
years,  but  he  knows  little  of  the  rise  of  the  peninsular  kingdom.  To  him  Luigi 
Carnovale’s  new  book  can  be  emphatically  recommended.  Signor  Carnovale 
calls  his  volume,  “Why  Italy  Entered  Into  the  Great  War,”  but  in  tracing  causes 
and  effects  he  covers  almost  the  entire  field  of  Italian  history.  • * • Signor 
Carnovale  writes  with  a fluent  pen,  and  if  he  errs  it  is  on  the  side  of  patriotism 
and  enthusiasm.  * * * One  of  the  most  brilliant  chapters  is  a philosophic  dis- 

cussion of  human  solidarity.  He  states  his  case  clearly  and  convincingly;  his  is 
a living  and  interesting  presentation  of  the  Italian  point  of  view. 

"LIGHT”  (Louisville,  Kentucky)  : 

Luigi  Carnovale  in  “Why  Italy  Entered  Into  the  Great  War”  has  added  to 
the  world’s  literature  an  interesting  and  instructive  book. 

PORTLAND  EVENING  EXPRESS  (Portland,  Maine): 

Luigi  Carnovale,  Italian,  is  master  of  his  subject  and  what  he  has  to  say  about 
the  great  struggle  into  which  his  country  was  pushed  to  war  will  be  of  particular 
interest  to  American  readers.  * * * His  pages  lack  neither  beauty  nor  senti- 

ment and  from  first  to  last  they  exalt  Italy. 

THE  NEJV  GUIDE  (Baltimore,  Maryland)  : 

The  author  wields  a firm  pen,  supported  by  assured  knowledge,  and  when 
he  is  through  with  the  subject  nothing  remains  to  be  said.  * • * The  motive 

of  Italy  is  vindicated. 

THE  BOSTON  ADVERTISER  (Boston,  Massachusetts): 

Luigi  Carnovale’s  book  will  be  a revelation.  * « » Jt  will  be  a useful 
addition  to  war  libraries. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  REGISTER  (Boston,  Massachusetts) : 

This  warm,  eager  defense  of  the  Italian  people,  based  on  historical  facts, 
illuminated  by  illustrative  incidents  and  inspired  by  an  invincible  hope  that  after 
the  world  anguish  of  the  great  war  a new  vitalizing  energy  shall  purify  the 
social  organism  and  bring  justice,  peace,  and  brotherhood  to  all  peoples  without 
distinction,  has-  been  written  by  a journalist  of  Chicago.  * * * The  book  is 
unusual  in  that  it  appeals  equally  to  English  and  Italian  readers.  It  will  promote 
a better  acquaintance  with  our  Italian  allies  and  their  history. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE  MONITOR  (Boston,  Massachusetts)  : 

The  publication  of  Mr.  Carnovale’s  book  at  the  present  time  is  particularly 
welcome  and  useful.  * * * It  is  a welcome  reminder  of  the  lofty  motives  by 

which  Italy  has  been  actuated  in  the  past.  The  fullness  with  which  he  deals  with 
the  Irredentist  question  sheds  a light  on  Italy’s  purpose  in  entering  the  war,  and 
the  justice  of  her  cause,  which  those  who  have  not  previously  given  much  study 
to  the  matter  will  find  most  useful. 

THE  LIVING  AGE  (Boston,  Massachusetts): 

It  is  not  surprising  that  the  author’s  nationality  and  temperament  should  make 
his  literary  style  at  times  too  fervent,  or  that  his  anticipations  of  future  recon- 
struction, not  only  for  Italy  but  for  the  world  should  be  extremely  radical.  The 
book  has  permanent  historical  value;  and  Americans  who  read  it  will  feel  a 
more  earnest  desire  than  ever  that  the  results  of  the  war  may  give  to  Italy  ade- 
quate compensation  for  the  wrongs  which  she  has  suffered  in  the  past. 

THE  WRITER  (Boston,  Massachusetts)  : 

Writers  on  current  topics  especially  need  the  historical  and  political  informa- 
tion that  Mr.  Carnovale  gives  in  a very  interesting  way. 

THE  DAILY  COURIER  (Lowell,  Massachusetts) : 

It  is  a formidable  array  of  facts,  and  leaves  one  clear  in  the  view  that  no 
matter  what  the  present  threat  may  be  on  the  line  of  the  Piave,  the  Italian  armies 
will  never  yield  to  a foe  that  has  been  feared  for  more  than  a century.  Students 
of  Italian  will  find  this  book  of  double  value.  o 


29 


DETROIT  TIMES  (Detroit,  Michigan) : 

This  is  the  first  book  written  in  English,  which  gives  the  Italian  side  of  the 
question.  The  author  is  something  of  an  idealist  and  predicts  that  when  the  war 
is  ended  there  will  be  a reign  of  “the  Omnipotents,  who  will  work  thru  the  active 
principle  of  love.”  * * • This  book  is  well  worth  the  attention  of  the  earnest 
student  who  seeks  truthfully  to  understand  the  causes  and  the  probable  outcome 
of  the  war.  As  a history  of  Italy,  it  is  a valuable  book  of  reference. 

THE  DETROIT  FREE  PRESS  (Detroit,  Michigan) : 

This  Italian  author  reviews  the  reasons  which  pushed  the  Italians  into  war 
against  Austria.  He  shows  that  they  were  not  inspired  as  has  been  charged,  either 
by  French  or  British  gold,  or  because  they  were  eager  to  acquire  territory.  Far 
nobler  motives  have  been  ascribed;  the  human  solidarity  of  the  humble  and  the 
weak;  the  rights  of  man  violated  under  Prussianism. 

THE  DULUTH  HERALD  (Duluth,  Minnesota)  : 

Most  interesting]  to  American  readers  is  the  “human  solidarity”  factor. 

* * * Mr.  Carnovale’s  book  is  interesting  not  only  for  its  discussion  of  Italy’s 

action,  but  for  its  summary  of  important  historical  matters. 

THE  MENACE  (Aurora,  Missouri)  : 

The  whole  volume  is  a most  luminously  thoughtful  and  authoritative  treat- 
ment of  vital  and  timely  questions  which  ought  to  appeal  to  every  thoughtful 
American.  Not  only  everyone  who  wishes  to  keep  abreast  of  the  world  events 
connected  with  the  great  war,  but  for  true  Americans  the  story  of  Italy’s  long, 
heroic  and  finally  triumphant  battle  against  despotism  is  a volume  of  first 
importance. 

TRENTON  TIMES-ADFERTISER  (Trenton,  New  Jersey): 

This  patriotic  son  of  Italy  has  been  plied  with  questions  as  to  why  his  country 
entered  into  the  great  struggle.  There  have  been  intimations  that  she  was 
guilty  of  infamous  treachery.  * * * The  accusations  have  aroused  the  indig- 

nation of  our  author  and  he  repudiates  them  with  considerable  display  of  spirit. 

* * • Mr.  Carnovale’s  effort  must  take  a place  of  importance  in  the  literature 
of  the  war. 

THE  IVORLD  (New  York,  N.  Y.) : 

It  is  an  impressive  recital. 

THE  MORNING  TELEGRAPH  (New  York,  N.  Y.)  : 

Luigi  Carnovale,  of  Chicago,  makes  a most  interesting  contribution  to  war 
literature.  • • * The  book  is  doubly  valuable,  for  that  it  is  published  in  Eng- 
lish and  Italian.  * • * The  argument  made  by  Mr.  Carnovale  seems  to  be 

unanswerable  from  any  standpoint. 

NEW  YORK  TIMES  (New  York,  N.  Y.)  : 

Luigi  Carnovale’s  sturdy  volume  presents  an  eloquent  defense  by  an  Italian  of 
Italy’s  participation  in  the  war. 

NEW  YORK  TRIBUNE  (New  York,  N.  Y.) : 

Italy  needs  make  no  apology  for  her  entrance  into  the  great  war.  * * * 
Yet  for  renewed  reminder,  for  reference,  and  for  lasting  record,  it  is  well  to 
have  this  compendious  bi-lingual  volume  of  Mr.  Carnovale.  It  is  the  most  com- 
plete statement  of  the  Italian  case  and  the  most  judiciously  and  authoritatively 
made,  that  we  have  seen. 

DEMOCRAT  AND  CHRONICLE  (Rochester,  New  York): 

It  is  a work  of  much  interest  and  considerable  scope  by  the  noted  Italian 
writer  whose  present  home  is  in  Chicago.  * * * Mr.  Carnovale  does  his  coun- 
try a great  service  * * and  his  book  is  one  of  the  literary  products  of  the 

war  that  the  historian  must  take  into  consideration  when  preparing  his  account 
of  the  great  conflict,  and  one  that  those  who  aspire  no  higher  than  to  be  well 
informed  concerning  events  as  they  pass,  ought  to  have  for  handy  reference. 

THE  ROCHESTER  HERALD  (Rochester,  New  York) : 

The  book  will  be  a useful  addition  to  war  libraries. 


30 


THE  TROY  RECORD  (Troy,  New  York)  : 

The  American  reader  will  find  the  work  well  deserving  a careful  reading. 
It  is  entertainingly  written  and  historical  facts  are  given  with  vivid  detail. 

THE  POST  EXPRESS  (Rochester,  New  York)  : 

The  book  as  an  historical  and  political  presentation  of  Italy’s  case  well 
deserves  study.  * * * Luigi  Carnovale  is  a talented  and  brilliant  writer,  and 
the  enthusiasm  with  which  he  speaks  of  his  beloved  Italy  will  appeal  not  only  to 
Italians  but  to  the  millions  who  are  interested  in  the  land  which  was  so  dear  to 
Byron,  Shelley  and  Browning. 

CLEVELAND  PLAIN  DEALER  (Cleveland,  Ohio)  : 

To  many  of  Anglo-Saxon  antecedents  the  book  will  seem  a bit  over-written, 
but  it  is,  assuredly,  a valuable  contribution  to  the  literature  of  the  great  war. 

CINCINNATI  TIMES-STAR  (Cincinnati,  Ohio): 

It  is  the  first  complete  and  authoritative  history  in  English  of  the  conditions 
and  events  that  lead  up  to  the  momentous  action  of  May  33,  1915. 

MORNING  OREGONIAN  (Portland,  Oregon) : 

The  literary  style  shown  in  the  book  is  dashing  and  dramatic.  Argument  is 
piled  on  argument,  until  a stirring  climax  is  reached. 

THE  PHILADELPHIA  INQUIRER  (Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania)  : 

All  that  is  necessary  to  say  is  that  the  book  is  an  elaborate  exposition  of  an 
important  chapter  in  history,  containing  documents  which  will  be  of  importance  to 
the  historian  who  when  peace  arrives,  undertakes  a calm  survey  of  the  whole 
situation. 

THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  (Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania): 

In  Mr.  Carnovale’s  book  this  question  of  irredentism  assumes  its  real  aspect 
and  volume  as  only  one  of  many  reasons  that  have  determined  the  Italian  masses 
to  risk  all  in  an  attempt  to  become  a world  power.  * * * of  the  final  outcome 
Mr.  Carnovale’s  work  presents  a significant  forecast. 

THE  SCRANTON  TIMES  (Scranton,  Pennsylvania)  : 

It  is  a painstaking  work  by  an  author  who  has  written  interestingly  and 
authoritatively  upon  Italy  and  Italians  before  now,  and  gives  to  the  reader  the 
real  Italian  viewpoint  and  arguments  on  the  present  war.  * * ♦ It  is  a work 
of  the  utmost  value  making  for  a more  intelligent  understanding  of  the  Italian 
side. 

THE  PROVIDENCE  JOURNAL  (Providence,  Rhode  Island) : 

Unique  in  certain  respects  a volume  just  published  in  this  country  deserves 
more  than  casual  attention.  * * • Mr.  Carnovale  gives  all  the  documents  in 
the  case,  and  he  is  wise  to  do  this  because  without  them  it  is  impossible  to  com- 
prehend the  situation  with  any  degree  of  intelligence. 

THE  GALVESTON  DAILY  NEWS  (Galveston,  Texas): 

The  volume  is  an  especially  valuable  one  for  its  historical  contents  not  only 
as  they  directly  concern  Europe,  but  as  they  affected  all  Europe. 

DESERET  EVENING  NEWS  (Salt  Lake  City,  Utah) : 

The  work  is  of  unusual  interest  showing  clearly  the  justification  the  Italian 
people  feel  in  their  part  of  the  war;  and  the  enthusiasm  and  impassioned  defense 
by  one  of  her  noted  scholars  writes  unmistakably,  if  unconsciously,  a limitless 
confidence  in  her  cause. 

HERALD-REPUBLICAN  (Salt  Lake  City,  Utah)  : 

With  an  unerring  accuracy  of  logic  the  author  proves  his  point.  But  this 
is  no  mere  cold  array  of  figures  and  statement  of  facts.  It  is  written  by  an 
artist. 

THE  NEWS  LEADER  (Richmond,  Virginia) : 

The  author  whose  fervid  patriotism  inspires  a vigorous  style  leads  us  into 
most  interesting  and  long  roads  of  history.  * * * Nor  is  the  least  valuable 
feature  of  his  work  the  information  it  gives  regarding  political  evolution  in  Italy 
and  its  causes. 


3* 


RICHMOND  TIMES-DISPATCH  (Richmond,  Virginia) : 

The  author  is  a distinguished  Italian-American  journalist  and  a leader  of 
Italian  thought  in  this  country,  and  he  brings  forth  a formidable  array  of  proof 
that  is  historically  incontestable  to  justify  the  course  pursued  by  Italy.  The 
book  should  be  widely  read  as  it  throws  much  light  on  questions  and  motives 
hitherto  not  generally  understood  in  America,  even  by  native  sons  of  Italy  now 
citizens  of  the  United  States. 

THE  SPOKESMAN-REVIEW  (Spokane,  Washington): 

This  book  is  in  the  nature  of  a “Red  Book”  explaining  the  reasons  of  Italy’s 
change  of  front. 

MILWAUKEE  FREE  PRESS  (Milwaukee,  Wisconsin)  : 

It  is  a painstaking  and  illuminating  volume. 

THE  LIVING  CHURCH  (Milwaukee,  Wisconsin) : 

It  is  unfortunate  both  for  Italy  and  the  United  States  that  we  have  habitu- 
ated ourselves  very  calmly  to  think  of  the  Italian  as  a rough  day-laborer.  We 
will  reap  harvest  in  art,  music,  and  the  humanities  through  the  Italian  blood 
poured  into  the  melting  pot.  Whoever  reads  this  book,  that  founds  all  its  claims 
on  documents,  will  finish  with  deep  sympathy  for  Italy  and  the  Italians  in 
this  war. 

AMERIKA  (Madison,  Wisconsin)  : 

A great  work.  A most  convincing  statement  of  facts  and  arguments.  Mr. 
Carnovale  knows  his  subject  from  a to  z,  and  his  style  is  fluent,  forceful,  filled 
to  the  brim  with  that  vivacity  of  which  the  French  and  Italians  are  the  masters. 
Both  his  fancy  and  his  vocabulary  seem  inexhaustible.  Nor  does  he  lack  equi- 
librium. He  presents  with  the  greatest  perspicuity  the  sufferings  and  aspirations 
of  the  Italian  people.  * * * The  author  arouses  our  sympathy  for  Italy  and  at 
the  same  time  stirs  our  own  patriotism  to  its  profoundest  depths.  For  this  lesson  in 
devotion  to  our  country  we  owe  Luigi  Carnovale  a debt  of  gratitude. 


32 


